THE House of Representatives is eyeing to approve before the year ends the Duterte administration’s priority measure creating the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund (CITF), a lawmaker said on Wednesday.
House Committee on Agriculture and Food Chairman Wilfrido Mark M. Enverga said the passage of the bill is now long overdue.
“This is a priority of the President and the Speaker, so we are optimistic that the plenary will approve this before our Christmas break [on December 19],” he said in a news conference.
During a meeting of the appropriations committee also on Wednesday, the panel approved the budgetary provisions of the proposal.
Under the still unnumbered substitute bill, the CITF is separate and distinct from the regular funds appropriated to the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) through the annual General Appropriations Act (GAA). As such, the PCA shall continue to pursue its mandate of implementing programs and projects from the regular GAA appropriations and from funds under the Trust Fund.
“Our coconut farmers are in dire need of help yet the money could not be touched as there has to be a law passed by Congress before it could be used for the purpose it was intended,” Enverga said.
“This unnumbered substitute bill now for consideration seeks to consolidate all assets and benefits emanating from the coconut levy, and creating a Trust Fund therefrom, for the ultimate benefit of coconut farmers and farmworkers as embodied in the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan, found in Section 4 of the bill,” he added.
According to Enverga, the utilization of the Trust Fund created under this proposal shall be in accordance with the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan which shall be prepared by the PCA, in consultation with all the stakeholders concerned, and approved by the President of the Philippines.
He said the plan shall be subject to mandatory annual review.
Under the bill, the lawmaker said the plan shall set the directions and policies for the development and rehabilitation of the coconut industry within 99 years.
“[This will be guided] by the following objectives: to increase incomes of coconut farmers; to alleviate poverty and promote social equity; and to rehabilitate and modernize the coconut industry toward farm productivity,” he said.
“The coconut levy funds are special funds allocated for a specific purpose and can never be used for purposes other than for the benefit of the coconut farmers or the development of the coconut industry. Hence, the money now with the Bureau of the Treasury is not earning interest as it could not be invested or used,” he added.
Enverga said that Congress must first provide a law for the disbursements of the funds, in line with its constitutional authority, saying the absence of a legislative authority for disbursing public funds would render the funds idle and no income can be derived from it, and “the farmers are deprived of the help they most need, especially during this most difficult time.”
Earlier, the Bureau of the Treasury told Congress that the cash component of coconut levy assets now stands at P76.3 billion as of July 31, 2019.
Also, the Presidential Commission on Good Government told lawmakers that the coconut levy assets, including its properties, are now at P300 billion.
While the coconut levy is a priority bill of the Duterte administration, the President vetoed the Congress-approved coco levy bill during the 17th Congress for lacking vital safeguards to avoid the repetition of mistakes committed in the past.
Duterte pointed to the establishment of an effectively perpetual trust fund in the Senate Bill 1233 and House Bill 5745 as the provision which was considered violative of 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.”
Under the original House version of the bill, it mandates the creation of the CITF, which shall be for the ultimate benefit of coconut farmers and the coconut industry.
The measure grants to a reconstituted PCA the powers to supervise and manage the money and the new Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan.
The coco levy funds have been stuck in court disputes until 2012, when the Supreme Court awarded to the government the shares bought with the coco levy funds, so these can be used for coconut farmers and the industry.
A salient feature of the coco levy bill creates the trust fund, to consist of the trust principal and the trust income; and provides that no portion of the trust fund shall accrue to the general fund of the national government.
Under the bill, all proceeds or receipts from the sale of coconut levy assets shall be remitted to the trust fund.
The bill creates the trust fund committee, under the Office of the President, to monitor the implementation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan and approve disbursements from the trust fund.
The trust fund shall be deposited in the Bureau of the Treasury.
Image credits: Schoenebergelena | Dreamstime.com, Cherylramalho | Dreamstime.com