President Rodrigo R. Duterte in his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday called for the passage of a law that would manage the utilization of the controversial coco levy fund worth around Php 100 billion.
“I once again urge both Houses of Congress to pass a version of the bill establishing the coconut farmers’ trust fund. Tulungan natin ang ating mga magsasaka pagka hindi mawawala ‘yang pera. Bilyon ‘yan (Let us help our farmers so the money will not be lost. That’s worth billions),” President Duterte said.
The fund has come from the taxes collected from coconut farmers during the term of former President Marcos which ended in a scam.
The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas said there is really a need to expedite the passage of the said law. “For almost half a century, small coconut farmers have waited in vain to benefit from the coco levy fund. The Marcos dictatorship forcibly extracted the levy from small coconut farmers and used the fund to enrich and reward cronies.”
Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary William Dar promised that coordination with Congress will be strengthened to push for the said law.
“Gusto natin mangyari na itong trust fund lalo na iyong earnings at iyon po ang gagamitin sa four major areas. Ito po iyong aming pananaw sa panukala (We want this trust fund to take effect, especially the earnings that will be used for four major areas. This is our view on the bill),” Dar explained.
Among the four areas aimed for the utilization of coco levy fund are the boosting of coconut production, placing of added value to coconut to make it a more useful product and be sold to the global market, establishing agricultural infrastructure to process the product, and providing social protection for coconut farmers.
Once it is passed within the year, the DA will conduct “massive replanting” of coconut trees.
“One hundred million trees are now senile and they need replacements,” Dar stated.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data show that the Philippine coconut production for the first quarter of 2020 is at 3.31 million metric to compared 3.14 million metric tons of 2019.
The DA will focus on top coconut-producing areas such as Calabarzon. – Report from Cleizl Pardilla
