Farmers to march 160 km for return of coconut levy

LUCENA CITY—At least 100 farmers from Quezon started a 160-kilometer march to Manila to dramatize their demand for the return of billions of pesos in coconut levy funds that they said were stolen from coconut farmers.

Joann Fernandez, media relations officer of the group Katarungan, one of the march organizers, said the march’s objective is to press the Supreme Court and President Aquino to side with farmers in the fight for the levy, which was collected from farmers for decades and which militants said benefited businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, the President’s uncle.

Bad weather didn’t stop the farmers from starting the march at 8 a.m., which they expect to take six days.

“We’ve been fighting for the return of the coconut levy for decades,” said Victoriano Broniola, 73, coconut farmer from San Francisco town. “Most of us have already died in extreme poverty. No one can stop this march, even the strongest rains,” he said.

Broniola is the eldest among the hikers while the youngest is a 16-year-old daughter of a farmer from the Bondoc Peninsula.

The farmers wore plastic trash bags over their bodies to protect them from the rains.

March organizers said a medical team would monitor the health condition of the hikers during the duration of the protest hike. An ambulance was spotted following the marchers.

The marchers were sent off by staunch coco levy return advocate and former Philippine Coconut Authority chair Oscar Santos, several provincial officials, among many other sympathizers.

“I will join the marchers in some parts of the route if my body will allow me. But I’m with them in spirit in their every step,” Santos, 82, told the Inquirer.

Janzepth Geronimo, secretary of the Coalition of Coconut Farmers of Quezon (CocoFarm-Quezon), said the march also seeks to popularize the struggle and get public support for the recovery of the coco levy funds.

The marchers would distribute pamphlets and manifestos along the route and “would be fed by Church people in every stopover,” Geronimo said.

Danny Caranza, Katarungan secretary general, said national government representatives would meet the marchers in Manila.

“But they should not just meet us for photo purposes. It would be much better if they would bring us to Malacañang [and for] President Aquino to break his long silence and declare that he supports the return of the coco levy to the farmers,” Carranza said.

Fernandez said the Supreme Court has yet to decide on the ownership of 27 percent of coco levy shares at San Miguel Corp. (SMC) despite findings that it was public fund.

She said the other 20 percent share of SMC, which also came from the same coco levy fund, was already decided in favor of Cojuangco.

“And with extraordinary dispatch, the motion for reconsideration on the 20 percent SMC shares was not only denied. It was expunged by the Supreme Court as if the motion for reconsideration did not exist,” she said.

She added: “While the new administration promised ‘tuwid na daan,’ the poor needs to continue its struggle to make justice work for them especially with a judiciary that apparently favors the rich in cases between the rich and influential and the poor, such as the coco levy cases.”

Last August, Deputy Speaker Lorenzo “Erin” R. Tañada III (Quezon, 4th District) filed House Bill No. 5070 that aims to establish the Coconut Farmers Trust Fund (CFTF).

The trust fund’s capitalization would come from the 27 percent Coconut Industry Investment Fund-San Miguel Corp. (CIIF-SMC) shares, which have a minimum value estimated at P56 billion.

The marchers are set to spend the first night of their protest hike in Candelaria town, some 24 km from Lucena.

Once in Manila, the marchers will hold a program in front of the SMC headquarters then proceed to the Supreme Court to demand for the resolution of pending coco levy cases. With TJ Burgonio in Manila