Senate approves P100-billion coco levy trust fund

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the bill creating the P100-billion coconut levy trust fund.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate committee on agriculture and food and sponsor of the bill, said the reconciled version of Senate Bill 1223 and House Bill 5745 would now be transmitted to President Duterte for signing into law.

The bill, called the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act, was among the priority legislative measures pushed by Duterte during his third State of the Nation Address last July 23.

Villar said the bill “includes provisions that would safeguard the approximately P100-billion coconut levy funds composed of cash and assets and ensure increased income for all coconut farmers, such as investment of the trust fund in Philippine government securities to ensure the safety of the fund and for assured returns.”

The fund will be managed by the reconstituted Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) which will be composed of one representative each from the PCA, Department of Finance, Department of Agriculture, Department of Budget and Management; one coconut industry stakeholder; six coconut farmers with two representatives each from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.