President Aquino urged to return coco levy to farmers

Lucena City—Former senator Wigberto Tañada on Friday called on President Benigno Aquino III to help alleviate the plight of Filipino coconut farmers by heeding their cry for the return of the multi-billion-pesos coconut levy.

“President Aquino should now join Quezon officials and farmers in their struggle for the return of the coconut levy,” Tañada said in his speech as guest of honor to the awarding ceremony of “Quezon Medalya ng Karangalan” at the convention center here.

Although he appreciated the efforts of provincial officials to uplift the life of coconut farmers in Quezon, Tañada stressed that the good life for them “is still a dream.”

Last month, the provincial government had declared support to Quezon coconut farmers in their struggle for the return of the coconut levy.

Quezon is believed to be the biggest contributor to the multi-billion-peso coconut levy which was forcibly collected from coconut farmers during the Marcos regime.

The former senator urged the national government to show sincere efforts to alleviate the condition of coconut farmers.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action (CBCP-Nassa) also reiterated their calls for Aquino “to break his silence on social issues and for once come to the aid of the farmers.”

“While we welcome his respect for subsidiarity of government agencies, he is also duty-bound to directly look after the rights of the poor and make sure that consideration of their well-being always precede his decisions and actions,” the CBCP-Nassa said in a statement sent to the Inquirer on Friday.

In a landmark ruling in 2001, the Supreme Court held in a case involving United Coconut Planters Bank shares that assets acquired using public funds were “prima facie public,” which means that the state owns the San Miguel Corp. stocks in the name of businessman Eduardo Cojuangco and his cronies.

But last April, the Supreme Court affirmed a 2007 decision of the Sandiganbayan and declared that another block of shares in SMC held by Cojuangco, which coconut farmers claimed were also bought using the coco levy fund, was the “exclusive property” of Cojuangco, a known Marcos crony and uncle of President Aquino.

The High Tribunal in its final decision also dismissed the motion for consideration filed by coconut reform activists and the Presidential Commission on Good Government.

The CBCP-Nassa appealed to the “sense of justice and compassion” of the SC magistrates, saying that the ruling was “based on mere technicalities devoid of social merit.”

“Any logical person will conclude that since both the 20 percent and 24 percent shares of SMC were obtained using the Coconut Industry Investment Fund,” the group said.

The CBCP-Nassa said the court’s decision “plunged the confidence not only of the millions of coconut farmers but of the nation as a whole to the impartiality of the judiciary.”

“A reversal of their decision will not only restore public confidence but also herald the end of a painful and humiliating cycle of wealth and power rendering a mockery of our justice system,” the group said.