Sen. Kiko Pangilinan assured a farmer advocate-chef that he will continue pushing for advocacies on agriculture and fisheries following a shakeup in the Senate that led to a hearing being canceled.
The lawmaker responded to a Facebook post of Waya Araos-Wijangco, owner and chef at GypsyBaguio by Chef Waya, who was supposed to attend a Senate hearing with partner farmers on Tuesday, May 12.
Araos-Wijangco said the farmers were invited “to share the realities they face, especially now, with fuel prices crushing already fragile livelihoods.”
“All week, they worked on their statement. Farmers from across communities sent stories and concerns: rising fertilizer costs, poor roads, lack of cold storage, predatory trader pricing, imported vegetables undercutting local produce, climate change, El Niño, transport costs eating into already razor-thin margins,” she said.
“They tried to shape years of hardship into something coherent enough for our leaders to finally hear. And despite everything, they were hopeful,” Araos-Wijangco added.
“The representatives rearranged their schedules during planting and harvest season. They found people to tend fields in their absence. Mothers arranged childcare. They bought bus tickets and traveled for hours to Manila because they believed that maybe, finally, government would listen. Then yesterday afternoon came the notice: the hearing was canceled,” she wrote.
Araos-Wijangco said they only received the notice of cancelation on the afternoon of Monday, May 11, the same day a Senate leadership shift unseated then-Senate President Tito Sotto III and installed then-Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate President.
“Our farmers came prepared with lived experience, practical solutions, and dignity. The Senate responded with cancellation notices and political theater. The senators have shown us clearly who they represent: themselves, their dynasties, their ambitions, their interests,” she added.
Pangilinan, who chaired the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform before the Senate shakeup, saw her post and responded that he will continue empowering the country’s food producers amid the incident.
“My apologies, Waya for the cancellation of the hearing as the Senate in yesterday’s plenary session declared all positions vacant, which includes all Committee Chairmanships,” he commented on Araos-Wijangco’s post.
The senator added that he also arranged a meeting with the Benguet group before the plenary session convened on Tuesday.
“Whether or not we are Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture, we will remain a sitting Senator and will continue as such in pushing for our agriculture and fisheries advocacies centering on empowering our food producers, our farmers and fisherfolk,” Pangilinan said.
“The Senate reorganization is a temporary setback. It will not, in any way, dampen our resolve to fight for our farmers and fisherfolk and the agri sector. We did not give up in facing political battles in the past when the odds were far greater and yet, we prevailed. We certainly will not give up now,” he added.
“Para sa mga magsasaka at mangingisda. Para sa bayan. Tuloy lang. Laban lang!” the lawmaker said.
Araos-Wijangco acknowledged his response and hoped for another meeting with Pangilinan.
The senator also assured his supporters that he will not give up in his advocacies despite being relegated to the minority.
“One year ago today, we did not just win a hard-fought, ‘against all the odds’ election campaign, we won big time. We won that brutal, merciless battle without sufficient resources and with a ragtag team of volunteers. We achieved the impossible then, we will continue to achieve the impossible with unrelenting grit, dogged determination and the guiding hand of the Almighty,” he said.
“We did not give up then, we most certainly will not give up now. Higit pang tibayan ang ating loob at pagpupursigi. Tuloy lang ang laban. Tuloy lang ang pagkilos, ang pagmamahal at ang paninindigan para sa bayan,” Pangilinan added.
As a result of the Senate shakeup, all Senate posts, including committee chairmanships, were declared vacant.
Meanwhile, Cayetano said Senate committee hearings will continue, especially those that had already begun prior to the leadership change.
He added that he hoped committees could be reorganized by Monday, May 18, in consultation with members.
