ALTHOUGH still recovering from the damages wrought by Typhoons “Milenyo,” “Reming” and “Seniang” more than two years ago, coconut farmers in Albay enjoy an extra incentive when a vital coconut oil mill in Barangay (village) Arimbay in Legazpi City formally resumed operations.

“Two years after the coconuts were devastated by the calamities, we now have copra again to sell and there is indeed a need to revive the operation of the oil mill, being one of the region’s largest coconut oil mills in Bicol,” said copra trader Efren Olmidillo of Polangui town in Albay.

In a symbolic ceremony, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo switched on Legazpi Oil Co.’s (LegOil) tolling facility in August. The mill has been refurbished during a three-year shutdown and will service coconut farmers’ cooperatives and groups in Bicol.

Arroyo was assisted by Josefa Aquino, LegOil chair; Jesus Arranza, Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) Oil Mills Group president and chief executive officer; Governor Joey Salceda and Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal.

LegOil had been operating for more than four decades until it was mothballed in 2007 when “Reming” damaged its facilities. Its main products had included crude coconut oil and copra cake.

The renovated plant will process copra into crude oil, edible oil and other products that will be sold to the domestic and international markets.

Regaining hope

The President did away with her usual speech and instead interviewed stakeholders of the industry. She asked copra trader Olmidillo about his participation in the industry.

Olmidillo said he had fed and sent to school his eight children with his earnings from coconut farming. A 32-year-old son now works as a senior technician in a telephone company in Dubai, he said.

“Our town was given P2 million worth of assistance by the CIIF in the form of 100,000 coconut seedlings through the supervised coconut development program of various cooperatives in our area,” he said.

Arroyo said that because the CIIF was still under litigation in court, only the interests of the principal fund were being used to finance existing projects worth P1 billion.

Arranza said coconut farmers were encouraged to form their cooperatives through the support of several Bicol personalities. The cooperatives, he said, were not merely suppliers but part owners of the products because of the consortium, indicating the “vertical integration” of the coconut industry and politics.

The CIIF has funded P4.8 million for nurseries development and distributed 2.2 million seedlings worth P37.7 million at no cost to 26 local government units, and P2.7 million for nurseries and 1.3 million seedlings worth about P20 million to 14 farmer-organizations.

Also under way is the Cacao Inter Cropping Project of Rep. Al Francis Bichara, with 539 hectares out of the target 1,120 hectares of land to be funded by the CIIF, Arranza said.