House allots P77 billion for coconut farmers

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives is reviving a vetoed bill intended to benefit more than three million coconut farmers throughout the country using levies collected during the Marcos regime.

Last February, President Duterte rejected the Congress-approved Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Bill, which sought the use of almost P77 billion to help farmers and develop the coconut industry.

In his veto message, the President said the measure did not have enough on the use of the money.

However, in his fourth State of the Nation Address last July 22, he urged Congress to send him a new bill.

The House committee on agriculture chaired by Quezon Rep. Mark Enverga yesterday decided to consolidate several bills seeking the use of P77 billion in levy collections for the benefit of coconut farmers.

Enverga said the consolidated bill his committee would endorse “will address the concerns the President raised in his veto message.”

“We have to come up with the common version as soon as possible, since this is an administration priority measure,” he said.

Among the authors of several bills that would be fused are Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano, Deputy Speakers Mikee Romero of 1-Pacman, Luis Raymund Villafuerte of Camarines Sur and Sharon Garin of Aambis-Owa, Lucy Gomez of Leyte, members of the Makabayan bloc led by Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, and Florencio Noel of An Waray.

Romero said millions of coconut farmers have been waiting since martial law for the use of the coco levy funds for their benefit.

“The coconut industry is in limbo. We need to replant and replace old trees. We need to help our farmers not only to care for their coconut trees but to grow other crops as well,” he said.

Noel said farmers in the Samar-Leyte provinces should be helped to recover from the devastation caused by Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.

“Their farms were flattened. Almost eight million coconut trees were wiped out. Up to now, our farmers are still struggling to revive the livelihood the typhoon took away from them,” he said.

The Samar-Leyte region is one of the top coconut-producing areas in the country.

Villafuerte said coconut farmers in Camarines Sur and other parts of the Bicol region need assistance too.

“They are suffering not only from the low price of copra but the record low price of palay as well. So, a double whammy has hit them,” he said.

Zarate said the Supreme Court, in a 2012 decision, declared the coconut levy funds as belonging to coconut farmers and mandated that the money be used “only for their benefit and for the development of the coconut industry.”

He said farmers are hoping that they may finally benefit from the levies collected from them. 

A Bureau of Treasury official informed the Enverga committee that levy collections, including interest, have amounted to almost P77 billion. 

During the hearing, there were suggestions that only the interest and dividend earnings from shares of stock would be used for assistance to farmers and development projects with the principal and shares intact, so there would be a perpetual source of funds.