Palace: When will farmers benefit from P72.8-B fund?

How much longer should coconut farmers wait before they could benefit from the P72.8-billion coco levy fund?

“We hope to be able to get things going within the term of the President,” Secretary Francis Pangilinan, Mr. Aquino’s adviser on food security and agricultural modernization, told reporters on Thursday.

INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON FILE PHOTO

The ball is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is yet to issue a partial entry of judgment on its 2012 ruling that the government owns the 27-percent Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) in San Miguel Corp.

“We hope we don’t have to wait long,” Pangilinan said, citing a motion filed in the high tribunal by the Office of the Solicitor General last month.

“The executive department has done everything on the issue of the issuance of a final decision and entry of judgment. So we now appeal to our Supreme Court [to grant the motion].”

Pangilinan signed a “summary of agreements” with 71 coconut farmers who had walked around 1,700 kilometers from Davao City to Manila to pressure the government into passing a law allowing them to directly benefit from the coco levy fund.

In a meeting with farmers in Malacañang on Wednesday, the President said he was willing to certify such a bill as urgent after a thorough consultation.

While waiting to “harmonize” existing bills reflecting the demands of small coconut farmers, the President was also open to issuing an executive order.

Coco farmers trust fund

To implement programs for the coconut industry, Mr. Aquino agreed that only the annual interest income of the coco levy fund would be used. Pangilinan pegged the total interest income at P3 billion from 2012 to 2014.

But the proposed Coconut Farmers’ Trust Fund would require an “act of Congress,” not an executive order, Pangilinan explained.

Anakpawis Rep. Fernando Hicap has a pending bill proposing the creation of the “Genuine Small Coconut Farmers’ Fund” at the House of Representatives.

Sen. Bam Aquino has his own version, while Senators Cynthia Villar and Ralph Recto have filed the proposed Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act and Coconut Levy Assets Disposition Act, respectively.

The President made it clear to coconut farmers that the coco levy fund was separate from the budget of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and “should be focused on increasing production and income,” Pangilinan said.

Road map

He added that the government was open to putting up a committee to handle the planned Coconut Farmers’ Trust Fund. At present, he said the PCA was handling the funds “and therefore, it is the PCA’s governing board which would have the final say regarding the utilization of the fund.”

The coconut industry will have additional funding once United Coconut Planters Bank is privatized, the senator said.

Pangilinan said a coco levy “road map” the President was set to approve would ensure that farmers would benefit from taxes collected from them by the Marcos regime four decades ago.

One strategy is to increase productivity by encouraging “intercropping,” so farmers will earn more than the annual P20,000 they get from their coconuts, Pangilinan said.

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