P-Noy issues EO on coco levy fund

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has issued an executive order that sets the administrative guidelines for the inventory and privatization of coco levy assets.

Executive Order 179 mandates the Presidential Commission on Good Government to coordinate with other concerned government agencies to identify all known coco levy assets within two months (60 days) from the EO’s effectivity.

Aquino wants the PCGG, with the assistance of the Office of the Solicitor General, to submit a certified report to the Bureau of Treasury, Commission on Audit, and the Office of the President, identifying and accounting all coco levy assets.

These include sequestered assets; corporations acquired through the use of levy money; shares of stocks of corporations; money, assets and investments of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) managed by the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB); and money, assets and investments managed by CIIF companies and CIIF holding companies.

The EO also mandates the PCGG and other agencies to reconvey and transfer the title of all coco levy assets to the government within 60 days from the effectivity of EO 179.

Money and funds constituting the coco levy or accruing from the coco levy assets must be deposited to the Special Account in the General Fund for Coco Levies (Coco Levy SAGF) with the Bureau of Treasury, pursuant to PD 1234.

Aquino also wants the government agencies concerned to take all the steps to implement the Supreme Court decision on the coco levy fund as well as the orders that he will issue in the future.

The Commission for Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations, in consultation with the Department of Finance, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization, and the Philippine Coconut Authority, should determine if privatizing the coco levy assets would serve the best interest of the government.

These agencies were mandated to provide Aquino recommendation on the possible privatization and the mode of divestment.

Once the privatization pushes through, all the proceeds must go to the Coco Levy SAGF after deducting reasonable expenses incurred during the process of privatizing the assets, the executive order stated.

In its previous ruling, the Supreme Court declared the coco levy funds are public in nature and cannot be used to purchase shares of stocks to be given for free to private individuals.

Thus, the so-called Farmers’ UCPB Shares covered by 64.98 percent of the UCPB shares of stock are owned by the government, according to the SC.

The CIIF companies and holding companies, as well as the converted San Miguel Corp. Series 1 preferred shares, totaling 753,848,312, together will all the dividends, are also owned by the government.