Discrepancy in DA's milk data irks Cynthia Villar

Senator Cynthia Villar on Friday got steamed up in a budget hearing due to the discrepancy in the figures provided by two Department of Agriculture (DA) agencies in connection with milk production.

During the Senate subcommittee on finance hearing, Villar asked the National Dairy Authority (NDA) and the Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) about their share in the 5% increase in milk production.

“May total production ka noong 2019 na 1% of demand. Ilan bang liters 'yun? Then ano ngayong 2023. Ilan ang share mo, ilan ang share nila?” she said.

(You had a total production in 2019 that was 1% of demand. How many liters is that? In 2023, how much is your share in the increase?)

“Ngayon lang ako nakakita ng ganito. Nililito ako. Huwag niyo akong galitin. Hindi ko kaya yan. Tinanong ko e. Ang dali-dali naman nun. Anong production noong 2019? Anong production noong 2023? Sino nag-contribute doon sa increase? Hindi niyo masagot?,” she added.

(This is the first time I encountered something like this. You are confusing me. Don't make me angry. I just asked. What is the production in 2019? What is the production in 2023? Who contributed to that increase? But you can't answer?)

Villar asked the two agencies to discuss and settle their figures first.

NDA administrator Marcus Antonius Andaya and PCC executive director Dr. Liza Battad responded to Villar but the senator was not satisfied with their answers.

“Ipagpaumanhin nyo po, hindi ko po alam saan galling ang five percent. (Our apolies, but we don’t know where the five percent came from.)  As far as NDA is concerned, right now our milk sufficiency is 1.56 percent,” Andaya said.

The PCC, meanwhile, said it produced 4.6 million liters in 2023, up from 3.1 liters in 2019.'

Villar insisted all she wanted to find out was the share of the two agencies in the 5 percent increase in milk production.

"In 2019, I was shocked that two agencies in existence for 30 years yet producing only one percent of local demand.  What did you do in the last 30 years?" Villar said.

Andaya said that the senator’s dissatisfaction was due to a misunderstanding of the data by the NDA and the PCC. 

“I can attribute that doon sa hindi pagkakaunawaan ng mga data. Kasi yung data namin ng PCC at NDA, magkaiba. So nung kanina ako ay nagpe-presenta, ang pine-present ko ay data ng NDA kaya hindi ko masagot kung ano ang data ng PCC,” said Andaya. “Kaya nag-break siya kanina para i-reconcile  yung data namin.” 

(There was a misunderstanding of the data. The PCC and NDA had different data. So when I was presenting, I was only knowledgeable about the NDA's data. That’s why I cannot answer anything about PCC’s data. So we had a break earlier to reconcile our data.) 

The proposed 2025 budget for DA is P200.19 billion. - Joviland Rita/Vince Angelo Ferreras/LDF, GMA Integrated News