THE House of Representatives is targeting to approve within the year the Duterte administration’s priority measure creating the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund (CITF), a lawmaker said on Monday.
The House Committee on Agriculture and Food created a technical working group (TWG) to consolidate the Palace’s and lawmakers’ versions of the bill and fast-track its approval.
AAMBIS-OWA Rep. Sharon Garin, head of the TWG and chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs, has vowed to hear and consolidate anew all the positions of government agencies and stakeholders before approving the bill.
“We will do TWG meetings during the [congressional] break in October. We have to wait for the positions of different agencies. We also want to [see] the final version of the Executive branch so we can compare with our version,” Garin said. “Hopefully, the PLLO [Presidential Legislative Liaison Office] can formulate its version for consideration.”
“I am hoping that we can deliberate and approve this within the year at the House of Representatives. Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano has a version of the bill, which I heard is the version of the administration. We will tackle everything and assess what to do and what not do to avoid the veto,” she added.
P76.3-billion cash
During the first hearing of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food on the coco levy trust fund proposal, Bureau of the Treasury Director Eduardo Marino said the cash component of coco-levy assets stands at P76.3 billion as of July 31.
Also, Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner Reynold Munsayac told lawmakers that the coco-levy assets, including its properties, are valued at P300 billion.
“We created another task force to conduct an audit because of the pending approval of the last bill that was vetoed. We will be able to finish that if this bill will already be submitted to the President for his approval,” Munsayac said.
Cayetano said it is time for funds to be appropriated for the benefit of all coconut farmers and for the development of coconut industry.
“We will make sure that the coconut farmers benefit from the coco levy, that, aside from the coco-levy funds, there will be more funds for infrastructure, research to strengthen the coconut industry; and that we will support efforts to recover the remaining funds,” he said.
While the coconut levy is one of the priority bills of the Duterte administration, the President vetoed the Congress-approved coco levy bill during the 17th Congress for lacking vital safeguards to avoid repeating the mistakes committed in the past.
Duterte said the establishment of an effectively perpetual Trust Fund as mandated in Senate Bill 1233 and House Bill 5745 violates the Constitution.
Under Article VI, Section 29(3) of the 1987 Constitution, “All money collected on any tax levied for a special purpose shall be treated as a special fund and paid for such purpose only. If the purpose for which a special fund was created has been fulfilled or abandoned, the balance, if any shall be transferred to the general fund of the government.”
Moreover, Duterte said the absence of a limit on a covered land area for entitlement to the benefit of Trust Fund “may disproportionately benefit wealthy coconut farm owners more than the smallholder farmers who desperately need the government’s affirmative assistance.”