Farmers reject bicam coco levy fund bill

LUCENA CITY—Farmer groups are not satisfied with the decision of the congressional bicameral conference committee on how to use the controversial multibillion pesos coconut levy fund.

Rene Cerilla, one of the convenors of Kilus Magniniyog, said there was a need to craft a new law before the country’s coconut farmers could truly benefit from the levy fund.

He lamented that in place of the Coconut Trust Fund Committee (CTFC), which they had long been pushing, the approved version of the bicameral committee instead mandated the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to stand in place of the CTFC to utilize, manage and administer the coconut levy fund, including all its assets.

“The truth is we are now anxiously waiting because we foresee there may be a need for a new law to accommodate their proposal to reconstitute PCA in place of the trust fund committee—the provision in our original proposal,” Cerilla said. —DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.