'Coco levy constitutes public funds'

Senate Minority Leader Teofisto Guingona said President Estrada erred when he stated that the coconut levy was paid by landlords and presumed that the funds are privately owned and thus, can be sold to private investors.

Guingona said the coconut levy collections, which started in 1972 pursuant to several presidential decrees during martial law, "constitute public funds for the benefit of the farmers."

"They were not paid by the landlords or millers but exacted from the farmers from the first sale of the coconut products to the millers and the traders," he said.

Thus, Guingona said the President cannot presume that the coco levy funds are privately owned which can be sold to private investors from Hong Kong in exchange for San Miguel Corp. shares without the consent of the farmers and the Sandiganbayan where cases involving the coco levy funds are pending.

"If the 27 percent holdings in San Miguel are sold to the Hong Kong group, ownership will be transferred to them and they can dispose of the shares as they please. While the money from the proposed sale will go to a trust fund for the benefit of the farmers, the farmers themselves are not duly represented nor do they control the administration and disposition of the trust," Guingona said.

He asked: "What happens to the rest of the assets resulting from the coco levy? If the premise is that they are privately owned, then the rest of the assets amounting to billions of pesos can also be disposed of privately. What happens to the farmers who sacrificed, whose proceeds from the sale of copra were deducted from the first sale?"