Senators urged to block amendments to coco levy bill

The social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has appealed to lawmakers to oppose amendments to a proposed bill on the P75-billion coco levy fund.

The National Secretariat for Social Action (Nassa) urged senators to oppose provisions of Senate Bill 1233, or the Coconut Farmers’ and Industry Trust Fund, that would deny farmers their right to decide on the coco levy fund.

“Our coconut farmers have suffered enough, this 40-year injustice to our coconut farmers has to end. We are appealing to our senators to please give our farmers their rights on how to utilize these coco levies,” said Fr. Edwin Gariguez, Nassa executive secretary.

The Nassa wrote the senators to stress that the coco levy must be treated as a special fund, not as part of the general fund. —Julie M. Aurelio