THE most notorious moments of retiring and termed-out Sen. Cynthia Villar in the Senate were usually on occasions when she berates resource persons who had the misfortune of displeasing her. One of these was when she belittled the research being conducted by government agencies, boasting of her being an intelligent person, yet she could not understand the importance of such research activities.

Ironically, Villar takes pride in her authorship of the Rice Tariffication Law, or Republic Act 11203, and its component Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), where revenues collected from the imposition of tariffs on imported rice are spent on things that would require scientific research. Fifty percent of the RCEF is earmarked to the Philippine Center for Post-harvest Development and Modernization to provide farmers with rice farm machinery and equipment. Any intelligent person should know that research and development is an important requirement to perform this task.