Poe: Let law decide coco funds’ fate

Senator Grace Poe. PHOTO BY JAY MORALES

Presidential candidate Grace Poe will use the coconut levy fund on the basis of a law and not an executive order (EO), which has delayed  the use of the money for the benefit of coconut farmers under the Aquino administration.

Poe’s running mate, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, said Congress opposed the use of the funds through an EO because its members wanted them distributed through a law to ensure all sectors would be consulted.

The funds should have been used for farmers as early as 2012 when the Supreme Court made a final ruling on the coco levy assets, specifically the San Miguel Corp. shares, 31 percent of which went to the government and 20 percent to industrialist Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.

President Aquino issued EO  179 and 180 privatizing the coco levy funds in March last year but this was suspended by the Supreme Court in June.

Survey needed

Escudero said a law would require that a survey be made to identify who among the coconut farmers or workers should benefit.

He said the legislative process would ensure that at least 30 percent of the funds would be kept as a trust fund for the industry’s long-term benefit.

“This will be on top of what the Department of Agriculture will allot for the coconut industry every year,” said Escudero.

 ‘Injustice to farmers’

Poe’s spokesperson Rex Gatchalian said the Partido Galing at Puso was committed to helping thousands of poor coconut farmers by increasing the budget allocation for the agriculture sector and tapping the coco levy funds.

“Attempts to muddle the issue of the government’s nondisbursement of the coco levy funds, which rightfully belong to coco farmers, will not address the problems of the ailing coconut industry. This is another injustice to our farmers,” said Gatchalian.

Poe and Escudero said the government, and not Cojuangco, should be blamed for the delays in using the multibillion-peso fund.

Escudero pointed out that Cojuangco was not the only person behind the coco levy as Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and the late Maria Clara Lobregat also managed some of the money collected.