Farmers hit bid by bank to lay claim on coco levy

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the claimants movement Coco Levy Funds Ibalik sa Amin (Claim) on Wednesday assailed a bid by a sequestered bank to declare P15.6 billion of an estimated P71 billion in coco levy funds as bank-owned and not owned by coconut farmers.

KMP chair Rafael Mariano, in a statement, said the board of directors of  United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB)  is “repeating the same plunderous scheme that led to its bankruptcy.”

He said the bank could not claim ownership of P15.6 billion of the coco levy funds after it was bailed out by the government when it suffered huge losses.

Former Quezon Board Member Claro Talaga, a well-known coconut farmers’ advocate, also vowed to lead a protest march in the province should UCPB pursue its plan.

He said only less than 30 percent of coconut farmers had benefited from UCPB.

“Now who gave them the right to dispossess millions of coconut farmers of the fruits of their blood, sweat and tears and enjoy it for themselves?” Talaga said on the   phone.

Jansept Geronimo, spokesperson for  Kilusan para sa Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan Quezon, also warned UCPB against touching the coco levy fund.

He said coconut farmers, most of them old, sick and dying, were the only ones who have the “inherent, sacred and legal right over that money.”

Quezon farmers are believed to be the biggest contributors to the coco levy fund exacted from coconut farmers from 1973 to 1982 during the Marcos dictatorship.

In a press statement, Oliver San Antonio of antigraft civic group National Coalition of Filipino Consumers also demanded an explanation from officials of UCPB on its legal move to contest the Supreme Court ruling on the coconut levy fund.

“The UCPB board is answerable to its shareholders and, since the government owns UCPB and in fact appointed its board of directors, they are answerable to us, the Filipino people,”  San Antonio said.

Members of the UCPB board of directors are elected by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) with the approval of the President.

In December 2012, UCPB filed two cases in Makati City against PCGG and asked the courts to declare P15.6 billion of the P71 billion worth of coco levy fund shares as owned by UCPB.

The UCPB board of directors also came under fire for hiring Divina law firm, partly owned by Nilo Divina, one of the government-appointed members of the UCPB board.

The cases are now being aggressively pursued by UCPB in its favor, said San Antonio who added his group had been monitoring the case as it “involves the people’s money.”

He said in a Senate hearing in 2011, it was found that UCPB lent out unsecured loans to favored clients using billions of pesos of coco levy funds.