AT the recent Bulong Pulungan media forum at the Hotel Sofitel, newly elected Senator Cynthia Villar compared her first impressions on the Senate to her nine-year Congress stint, talked about the first five bills she’s working on, particularly the establishment of the Department of Overseas Filipino Workers, what she will do about the controversial Kasambahay Bill, and how she will continue her favourite livelihood projects aside from her new job as legislator.
Newly elected Senator Cynthia Villar receives a bouquet of flowers from core members of Bulong Pulungan, from left: Donnie Ramirez, Deedee Siytangco, Jullie Yap Daza, Cynthia U. Santiago, Charita Planas, and Mandy Navasero. — Photo by Edmundo L. Santiago
Excerpts:
Q: How does it feel to be a senator?
Cynthia Villar: I’m not really that excited to become a senator. I spent a lot of time in Congress– nine years. It had its disappointments, it had its glory. I know that it will be the same in the Senate. I have very ‘on-the-ground’ expectations on what I am getting into. Sometimes if you do not know what you’re getting into, you will feel that it will be nicer. But I have been there…
What I am only excited about is being able to continue my advocacies all over the Philippines. Even my legislations will be a part of my advocacy. There’ s a different system now in the Senate. Before unahan sa pag-file ng bills. You can file as many during the first day. You can be Number 1. You get there in time and you can file everything. But now there’s a raffle and you are allowed only to file your first five. Then after everybody finished filing their first five bills, you can file another ten, and another ten.
My first five bills are two for Overseas Filipino Workers, one for Trade and Industry, one for Agriculture, and one for Education. One of the two bills for OFWs is creating the Department of OFWs. We have no department. Right now, the OFWs are being taken care of simultaneously by two departments– the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment.
Some of the attached agencies of DFA are about OFWs and some attached agencies of DOLE are about OFWs. We aim to centralize all services for the OFWs– because it’s cumbersome for OFWs to go from one office to another. It will be better if they can go to just one department.
Where will that department put Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA)?
The new Department will include all agencies serving the OFWs. Some say it would be very expensive to put up a new Department. But I would like to think–even most of you would think– that our government is an evolution. It should not be static. Like before, maybe 30 years ago, we didn’t have that many OFWs. But now we have 12 million OFWs who are remitting to the country P22 billion. At least 3,000 depart for abroad per day. Napakarami. We didn’t have anything like that long time ago.
In fact, the OFW business has a bigger contribution to our economy than Tourism. Tapos may department ang Tourism, ang OFWs wala.
What will be the priority of that Department? It should also be helping the OFWs when they return.
There should be re-training when they come back. In the Villar Foundation, together with the Blas Ople Center, we have set the Skills Up for the returning OFWs. Every quarter we offer various courses. Usually they choose the courses which are employable right now. Because things change after some time. There was a time when what were employable were the nurses. But now the ones in demand are Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM) graduates.
If an OFW was trained for skills that are no longer in demand, then we should train him for another skill that will enable him to find a new job. That’s part of the work of the Department of OFWs.
How many percent of returning OFWs go for re-training?
I think there are many who want to learn new skills, but they do not know that we have a program for that. You are lucky if you know. Like those in Metro Manila learn about our program. But what about those in the provinces?
How many OFWs avail themselves of your training programs.
Usually 30 persons per quarter. Maliit lang, but at least we have an available alternative for them. That’s why we should have a Department which will have regional offices which can disseminate information about the skills training programs. Many of our returning OFWs are from Mindanao. It’s easy to recruit in Mindanao because parents are so excited to give their children– even the underaged– to recruiters. Because life is difficult there.
There was a time when we helped some OFWs who were victims of illegal recruiters. We gave them transportation fare so they could come home. The workers were so young and many of them were from Mindanao.
What is the second bill you filed for the OFWs?
The one mandating that government should help OFWs whether they are documented or undocumented. Today, when you are documented, OWWA automatically provides means for your repatriation. If you’re undocumented, it’s the DFA who’s supposed to attend to your case. If DFA does not have a budget for the task, wala. Now, I am proposing that the government take care of everybody whether one is documented or undocumented. Kasi usually iyong undocumented, naloko ‘yun. You cannot blame them. It’s really poverty that pushed them to that situation. If my bill about the Department of OFW will not be passed, I hope this one will pass. Tingin ko mas simple ito.
What’s your bill for Agriculture?
The bill is about accelerating irrigation in the Philippines– to give the National Irrigation Administtration six years to finish all irrigation facilities. To improve production, we must improve our irrigation system. But it seems the work never gets done. This bill will mandate the agency to pinpoint all the irrigation facilities needed and do it in six years. At least if we get the job done and the production still does not improve, then we can say that irrigation is not the problem.
A most controversial bill is the one on Kasambahay. Can you do something about it?
I think the complain about the bill is the provision that helpers receiving a salary of P5,000 and above must pay their SSS, Philhealth, and Pag-IBIG, and their employers should give a counterpart. If the salary is below P5,000, the helpers do not pay anything. Only the employers pay their SSS. I heard the kasambahays don’t want to pay. They say they don’t plan to borrow a loan from Pag-IBIG– why should they pay?
I say, you don’t kill a law just because there are provisions that are not acceptable. We can always amend the bill.
For example, there is the law that prohibits sending to jail juvenile delinquents. It’s now being abused. Lawless elements are using minors to commit the crimes– since the minors will not be jailed. I remember in an office, a boy was caught stealing. He told me his father was downstairs and he was the one who told him to steal. They have to repeal the law because it is being abused. The father and the adults teaching the children to commit crimes should be penalized.
I don’t think we should kill a bill because there is something not acceptable about it. Anyway, we can easily change the implementing rules and regulations.
The problem with the Kasambahay Bill is that even the barangay chairman doesn’t know what it is about.
Funny, we have a lot of laws which are not being implemented because not everyone knows how to implement them. The judges have continuing education so they know the law. The police and barangay chairman don’t have any. That should be an advocacy of the women’s group– have a continuing education for those who should implement the laws.
Do you have a special goal for women in the Senate?
When I was in Congress, I was president of the Lady Legislators group. Our advocacies were definitely for women, children, and family. That was a good time for us. We were really supportive of women. In the Senate, there’s no such association of women so we have to do things on our own. Maybe we can organize an informal group.
Besides, my advocacy now is not about women only. I have decided that I have to focus on a specialized advocacy because if you advocate on everything, you end up doing nothing. So, for women, I am focusing on economic empowerment. I’m very particular about livelihood and job generation.
Even among the bills that I filed, the first five, one is on investment incentives. It’s for job creation. You give incentives to industries which create jobs for the people. It’s very important that you give incentives, for instance, in the manufacturing industries. We should also give incentives in Agriculture because two-thirds of our population are in agriculture.
The Department of Trade and Industry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are trying to go beyond planting. They want to go to processing so they can generate more jobs. In Benguet, for instance, growers of strawberries sometimes could not transport their produce to the market. So the strawberries go to waste. Now if they have a processing system, that would not happen.
Cebu and Davao have many processed products. It is in these places where I realized we need technology to make the most of agriculture products.
So I am deciding that my second committee will be Science and Technology. People discourage me, saying there’s nothing to do in that committee. But I’ve seen in my work, in my livelihood projects, that it’s always technology that has helped me.
What will happen now to your livelihood projects?
I am continuing them. I’ve lined up 50 this year. I really intend to build 100 a year. If I build 100 a year, in six years, I will have built 600. I’ve already built 200 plus. So, I will have 800 by the end of my term. That means I will have built one project in every other town in the Philippines. That’s why I am researching on what I can still go into, aside from what I have done in Las Pinas so the people will have choices on the best livelihood for their particular situation.
I built the SIPAG Center in Las Pinas– this is the Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance. I always monitor the project. Every three years, they make a report on the poverty level in the cities and provinces. We note that places where tourism is the major industry, the poverty level is high. Those who are purely agricultural have a low poverty level. We look down on those in agriculture like Benguet and Nueva Vizcaya. But they have lower poverty level than Aklan, Cebu, Bohol– those known for their tourism industries.
In Aklan, they are not planting. What they feed their tourists don’t come from Aklan, so how will tourism benefit the people there? If your Tourism is strong, you should use products coming from your province. Otherwise, your people will not profit from the industry.
An ADB economist, who was our speaker in the League of Corporate Foundation about inclusive growth, said it’s really agriculture, not tourism that can alleviate poverty in our country.
What are your training projects?
I don’t want trainings without implementation. For example, I go to a community, and ask the people what kind of job they would like to have. So we tell them we will train them in the skills for that job. We will give them equipment And we will help market their product so they will have a sustainable source of income.
What about your bill on Education?
I am filing a bill requiring high schools to include in the curriculum entrepreneurship as a subject. Because if you can’t find a job, don’t just bum around. Think of a means to earn an income. It might be just a blessing in disguise that you can’t find a job. You will be forced to learn how to start a business — that might be the way for you to become rich.
What about Health. Will you also give priority on medical missions?
I know medicines are important for the people. Every day at our house, there’s a long line of people asking for medicine. But I don’t like medical missions where you have to buy the medicine yourself to give to the people. What we do , we deposit our money in the hospitals. Then we write letters of recommendation for those in need of medicines and tell them to present the letter to the hospitals. Because when you buy the medicine yourself, people in government will think you stole the money. Whereas if you deposit it in the hospital, it’s the hospital which will buy the medicines and be accountable for the money. It is really disheartening for people like us to be accused of misappropriating our budget. So, we just deposit the money in hospitals operated by the Department of Health.
How will be power sharing in the Senate?
There are six senators in the opposition side, and 18 pro-administration. But it’s a matter of sharing the committees.
How is Manny Villar?
My husband is so happy because now he can do what he wants to do. Because when you are a public official, you have certain responsibilities. Now he is more independent.
— by Cynthia U. Santiago
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