Senator to push for farmers’ input in use of coconut levy fund

By Camille A. Aguinaldo
SENATOR Francis N. Pangilinan on Sunday said he will push for the original version of the coco levy trust fund bill, as sought by coconut farmers, in the bicameral conference committee.
Mr. Pangilinan noted that the original version of the bill he authored came from the farmers themselves. But he noted the Senate’s approved version removed the farmers’ participation in the planning, use and monitoring of the more than P70 billion coconut levy funds.
He also noted that the counterpart measure at the House of Representatives, which was passed on third and final reading last September, removed the provision to limit the beneficiaries only to coconut farmers owning five hectares and below.
Senate Bill No. 1233, or the proposed Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act, creates the coconut industry trust fund allowing farmers to benefit from the coconut levy collected by the regime of Ferdinand E. Marcos beginning in the 1970s.
The bill was passed in the Senate on third and final reading last March with an amendment introduced by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto concerning the composition of the committee tasked to distribute the trust fund.
Mr. Recto earlier pushed for reconstituting the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to handle the coconut levy fund. The original version of the bill initially called for the creation of a Trust Fund Committee composed of five government officials and six farmer representatives. But the proposed committee was later scrapped during the second reading deliberations.
A bicameral conference on the bill has yet to be scheduled.
“Three generations of former and now incumbent senators have campaigned and fought hard for both court action and meaningful legislation to correct the decades’ long injustice wrought on the coconut farmers. The struggle continues,” Mr. Pangilinan said in a statement.