Quezon folk urge use of levy for storm repair

LINEMEN from Albay Power and Energy Corp. work on power lines damaged by Typhoon “Glenda.” MARK ALVIC ESPALANA/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Catholic Church leaders, a provincial executive and farmers in Quezon appealed to President Aquino to release portions of the P72-billion coconut levy fund to help rehabilitate areas devastated by Typhoon “Glenda.”

Bishop Emilio Marquez urged Mr. Aquino to release even a small amount from the levy fund to start the rehabilitation of the coconut industry not only in Quezon but elsewhere in the country.

The fund was forcibly collected from coconut farmers by the Marcos dictatorship.

“Have mercy on the more than three million coconut farmers, most of them living in abject poverty for so long. The time to use the coconut levy fund is now,” said Marquez in an interview on Monday.

Fr. Joey Faller, known healing priest in Lucban town, also asked the President to consider using the coco levy fund to help farmers start anew after the storm.

YOUNG farmers in Unisan, Quezon, gather coconuts spared by pests and Typhoon “Glenda.” DELFIN T. MALLARI JR./INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON

“The damage was so great, Your Excellency, that a lot of farmers lost their livelihood,” said Faller in an e-mail statement.

Gov. David Suarez reiterated his appeal to the President to use portions of the levy on a program to plant hybrid coconuts.

The coconut industry in Quezon, home to millions of coconut farmers, took a bad hit from Supertyphoon “Yolanda” and is not even starting to get back on its feet when Glenda struck.

Suarez said the province’s agriculture sector lost hundreds of millions pesos from Glenda, excluding the cost of damage to 250,000 hectares of coconut farms in the areas hit by the storm.

Aside from the two storms, the coconut industry in the province is suffering from a pest infestation.

“Let us start talking about the total recovery of the coconut industry,” he said.

Romeo Clavo, head of Ugnayan ng Magsasaka sa Gitnang Quezon (Ugnayan), also reiterated the farmers’ call for the return of the coco levy fund.

Clavo, however, opposed proposals to let the Philippine Coconut Authority handle the funds.