President Rodrigo Roa Duterte shows the Certificate of Republic Act 11524 or the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act handed to him by Sen. Cynthia A. Villar at the Quezon Convention Center in Lucena City, Quezon province.
The President was in Lucena City for the joint National Task Force-Regional Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict IV-A (NTF-ELAC) meeting.
The copy of the law handed by Villar was then passed by the President to Philippine Coconut Administrator (PCA) Benjamin Madrigal Jr.
Villar, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, has remained thankful to the President for the passage of the law that would be a big push to reach our goal of uplifting the lives of 3.5 million Filipino coconut farmers from 68 coconut-producing provinces.
“The coconut trust fund belongs to our coconut farmers and their families. With the provision of scholarship for our coconut farmers and their children, an annual allocation of 8% and 10% for health and medical programs on top of Philhealth coverage, I am confident this will improve the quality of lives of our coconut farmers,” said Villar.
The continuous education and improving one’s knowledge on new technology on production and post-production of coconut, Villar said, is also supported under the law, with an allocation of 8% of the budget that would be implemented by government agencies for training.
With the Coconut Industry Trust Fund Act, Villar also hopes to resolve the many issues blocking the full growth of the coconut industry.
“Aside from alleviation of poverty, the Coconut Industry Trust Fund Act, along with the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan, can provide the direction for the government to achieve increased incomes and social equality for our farmer,” noted Villar.
Under the law, the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan will be crafted by the PCA. It stated that the plan will “set the directions and policies for the development and rehabilitation of the coconut industry within 50 years.”
The law mandates the Bureau of Treasury to infuse P10 billion to the trust fund in the first year, P10 billion in the second year, P15 billion in the third year, P15 billion in the fourth year; and P25 billion during the fifth year.
Some P5 billion from the trust fund will be used upon enactment of the law for programs such as:
- Planting and replanting of hybrid coconut seedlings to increase harvest by PCA and DOST.
2. Intercropping with cacao (20%), coffee, and diary under a coconut tree to increase income by DA (10%).
3. Processing equipment for value-adding by Philmech (10%).
4. Organized of coconut farmers into cooperatives for economies of scale by CDA (5%).
5. Marketing by DTi (5%)
6. Infrastructure in coconut producing LGUS by DPWH (10%).
7. Cheap credit by Landbank and DBP (10%).
8. Crop Income (4%) in addition to previously mentioned health (10%), college scholarship (8%), and training (8%).
The government started collecting the coco levy funds from coconut farmers in 1971 through levies, taxes, charges and other fees imposed with the sale of copra rececada. Aside from coconut farmers, the funds were collected from millers, refiners, processors, exporters and copra end-users.
In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that the coco levy funds were publicly-owned, prompting the government to craft ways on how to develop the coconut industry using the multi-billion assets.