Abuse in coco levy fund use assailed

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—A group of coconut farmers in Quezon slammed the questionable use of coco levy funds by the government, including for a law firm that is partly owned by a member of the board appointed by the government at a bank that is claiming ownership of portions of the levy.

“There should really be a law that would address the issue on how to dispose of the coconut levy fund,” said Jansept Geronimo, spokesperson of Kilusan para sa Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan (Katarungan)-Quezon, in reaction to the hiring of a law firm owned by a member of the board appointed by the government at the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB).

Geronimo called on President Aquino to publicly make an accounting of the coconut levy fund now estimated to be more than P71 billion.

Coconut farmers from Quezon are believed to be the biggest contributors to the coco levy, which was imposed by the Marcos dictatorship from 1973 to 1982.

The UCPB board of directors is under fire for hiring the law firm owned by the government-appointed member of the UCPB board in what a group of consumers said was a case of conflict of interest.

UCPB filed two cases in Makati City against the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) and has asked the courts to declare a total of P15.6 billion of the P71 billion worth of coco levy fund shares as owned by UCPB.

Lawyer Oliver San Antonio, National Coalition of Filipino Consumers legal counsel and spokesperson, said UCPB officials should disclose the cases “outsourced” to the law firm owned by the board member.

Geronimo maintained that the coconut levy fund belongs to the farmers and not to the government or any of its entities for them to spend.

He demanded the immediate release of the coco levy funds to help thousands of coconut farmers in Eastern Visayas who are still reeling from the effects of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” six months ago.

“Instead of spending the funds on questionable corporate expenses with intention of again robbing the farmers of their hard-earned money, the government should use the funds to combat the coconut scale insect menace that could destroy coconut farmlands across the country,” Geronimo said.

He said the coconut farmers were afraid the funds had already been plundered by thieves in the government.

“In the interest of transparency, we would like to know: One, why the firm of an incumbent member of the board was tapped as external counsel,” said San Antonio in a statement.

“Given the huge amounts involved in the cases…it would not be surprising if the law firm (owned by the board member) charged millions (of pesos) in legal fees,” he added.

“We must keep in mind that what’s involved here is a government-sequestered company that handles funds already declared by the Supreme Court to be public money,” San Antonio added.