Coconut farmers want their money back

LUCENA CITY—More than 200 small coconut farmers and leaders of various peasant organizations from Southern Tagalog and Bicol region who were attending the “coco levy funds claimants summit” in the town of Pagbilao, Quezon, on Tuesday demanded a cash distribution of the multibillion-peso coconut levy funds being held by the government.

The one-day assembly led to the formation of the “Coco Levy Funds Ibalik sa Amin” (Claim) movement which will spearhead the campaign to unite the country’s coconut farmers around the issue of demanding a distribution of the coco levy funds.

“I came here to personally know how to reclaim the money that I paid for the levy. And I want to be paid back in cash,” said Carmen Consuelo, 66, who had traveled from Malilipot, Albay.

Yesterday’s meeting was meant to kick off a nationwide campaign to reclaim the coco levy funds, according to the Kilusang Mangagawa ng Pilipinas (KMP), which initiated the summit.

Money back

“This summit aims to deliver a strong message to President Aquino that we want our money back,” said Willy Marbella, KMP deputy secretary general.

The summit will be followed by provincial, municipal and barangay-level assemblies for the screening, verification and enlistment of small coconut farmer-claimants, he said.

The summit participants called for the immediate enactment of House Bill No. 3443, or the proposed Coconut Levy Funds Administration and Management Act, filed by Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano.

They rejected the Malacañang-created Task Force Coco Levy Funds under the National Anti-Poverty Commission which is proposing to borrow part of the funds to finance the government’s poverty alleviation program.

The coco levy funds were the proceeds of a forced tax that the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos imposed on the coconut industry between 1973 and 1982.

The levy funds collected was valued at P9.7 billion and was estimated by the Philippine coconut Authority to have grown to P100 billion by 1999.

Using money from the levy funds, businessman Danding Cojuangco, whom Marcos had appointed as administrator of the levy funds, was able to acquire a substantial stake in the San Miguel Corp. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon