By Jelly F. Musico / Philippines News Agency
Sen. Cynthia A. Villar has refiled as her first bill for the 17th Congress the measure declaring the coconut-levy assets as a trust fund to benefit 3.5 million coconut farmers.
Senate Bill 139, or the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act, seeks to provide the measures for the management and use of the trust fund, also known as the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund. It also seeks to authorize the Privatization and Management Office (PMO) to dispose of the coconut-levy assets.
“The plight of the coconut farmers, one of the poorest groups in the agriculture sector, with an average income of P50 a day, remains our main priority. We want to ensure that we will come up with a legislation that will benefit the coconut farmers and their families over the long term, not only in the immediate future,” Villar said.
Villar, as chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, sponsored a version of the bill under Committee Report 106 in the 16th Congress. She vowed to refile a better bill that will provide more transparency and address all loopholes and inconsistencies in the old bill.
Under the new bill, the Commission on Audit, in coordination with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) and the Presidential Commission on Good Government, shall conduct a complete accounting and inventory of the coconut-levy assets. It also orders the reconveyance of the titles of these assets to the Republic of the Philippines and the deposit of all cash assets in the trust fund.
The trust fund shall be used exclusively for the development of the coconut industry for the ultimate benefit of coconut farmers and farmworkers.
Coconut-levy assets refer to all kinds of property, whether real or personal, tangible or intangible, wherever situated, which have been acquired through the coconut-levy funds. Coconut-levy funds are various funds generated from levies, taxes, charges and other fees exacted or imposed in connection with the sale of copra or its equivalent in other coconut products, and collected from coconut farmers, planters, millers, refiners, processors, exporters, desiccators and other end-users.
The proceeds from the redemption of the converted SMC 1 preferred shares, dividends declared, paid, or issued on the converted SMC 1 preferred shares, and all income or interest derived from it and any other cash levy asset deposited in the Bureau of the Treasury and the United Coconut Planters Bank shall form part of the initial capital of the trust fund.
It will be augmented with all proceeds of privatization/disposition of the coconut-levy assets remitted directly by the PMO, and any and all forms of income, interest, earnings, yields, or any monetary benefit derived from it prior to the privatization/disposition of these assets.
The trust principal will be preserved and maintained at all times and will be invested only in Philippine government securities. Only the trust income will be used for the implementation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan and approve or disapprove the sale or disposition of the coconut-levy assets.
The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), Departments of Agriculture (DA), Agrarian Reform, Trade and Industry, Science and Technology, Energy, Public Works and Highways, the Interior and Local Government; and the National Anti-Poverty Commission will be constituted as an ad-hoc committee that will prepare the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan.
The bill also mandates the creation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Committee, which shall be attached to the Office of the President. Among others, it will direct, supervise and coordinate the implementation of the plan.
The bill also mandates the PCA, the agency assigned to support the coconut industry, to continue with its regular programs and projects and will be funded with not less than P5 billion annually by the General Appropriations Act.
“The budget of the PCA should not be cut, as it will undermine its capacity to extend support to the coconut industry,” Villar said.
The bill seeks to make the budget of PCA distinct from the coco-levy fund and should not be commingled or used to replace it. The PCA budget shall cover fertilization, infrastructure, research, development and the operational cost of running the agency.
Villar noted that the coconut industry has been faced by various challenges, including low productivity, limited intercropping, and high poverty in the ranks of coconut farmers.
According to latest data, coconut lands comprise 3.3 million hectares of the country’s total farm area, higher than the 2.5 million hectares devoted to rice. Despite this, gross return per hectare was at a dismal PHP32,000 per farm per year.
