Siquijor solon proposes Coco Levy Trust Fund

CEBU, Philippines - Representative Ramon Vicente Antonio “Rav” Rocamora, a neophyte lawmaker of the lone district of Siquijor filed House Bill 301 or the Coconut Levy Trust Fund to be used for the needs of coconut farmers and development of the country’s coconut industry.

“This is the best deal for our coconut farmers,” Rocamora said, as he wanted the proceeds from the sequestered coconut levy assets to benefit the farmers themselves.

Rocamora explained: “For too long, the coconut farmers have been short changed. When the Coco Levy fund was created, it failed to benefit the thousands of coconut farmers and their families. And to add insult to injury, it was practically turned into a personal purse by unscrupulous individuals to enrich themselves.”

Under the proposed bill, an initial P10 billion will be allotted by the government to provide social protection services to coconut farmers and their families on top of the creation of ‘coco hubs’ in the country’s coconut producing towns.

“The money rightfully belongs to our coconut farmers and must be used for their benefit. This will necessarily include social protection services such as pensions, healthcare and livelihood. It will also mean increasing investments and modernization of the coconut industry,” Rocamora said.

“This will turn a new chapter on the coconut industry. From one era marked by impoverishment of the farmers to a new one characterized by social justice and a renaissance of the coconut sector,” he said.

The bill also proposed a Trust Fund Committee to manage the money. It will be composed of seven representatives from the government and six from the coconut farmers.

“The strong presence from the coconut farmers will serve to ensure that the Coconut Trust Fund will stay on course of benefitting the farmers and coconut industry,” he said.

Rocamora also urged President Rodrigo Duterte to certify the bill as urgent as this was in line with the president’s promise of giving the Coco Levy fund back to the farmers in terms of services.

“I’m confident that the president will lend his support for the bill. He has promised that he will give the fund back to the farmers and increase government support for the ailing coconut industry through infrastructure and services. This bill is exactly about those things,” Rocamora added.

The coco levy fund started as 55-centavo-per-100-kilogram fee collected from each coconut farmer beginning in 1973, purportedly to be used to stabilize the domestic price of coconut-based consumer goods like cooking oil.

The Philippine Coconut Authority was used as conduit for these collections to finance the development of a hybrid coconut tree. Many coconut farmers who opposed or questioned the collected levies, for which they did not benefit, were harassed, imprisoned, and killed during Martial Law.

A substantial part of the fund was used by San Miguel Corporation Chairman Danding Cojuangco to purchase the United Coconut Planters Bank, which was later used to buy 24 percent shares from SMC.

The Supreme Court, on 14 December 2001, ruled that the funds were public in nature. In 2012, the SC further decided that these shares at SMC would be used only for the benefit of the farmers and for the development of the coconut industry.

The Coco Levy money is in the nature of taxes thus could not be transferred to private hands, the SC ruled.

In 2014, the high court further issued its final judgment on the shares at SMC, which were already valued at P74 billion.   (FREEMAN)