This developed after some 1,200 leaders of the various coconut farmers organizations across the country agreed to enter into a compromise deal with SMC, said Efren Villaseñor, chairman of the 750,000-strong Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Samahan ng Magsasaka at Manggagawa sa Niyugan (PKSMMN).
"That is about 96 percent of the total organized coconut farmers nationwide," Villaseñor said.
The consensus was the result of the consultations convened in 10 regions by the Bishops-Ulama-Priests-Pastors-Farmers-Lumad and supervised by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) from July to September 2005.
The regional consultations involved a total of 1,417 participants, including 1,197 coconut farmers and 220 guests and resource persons.
The farmers who participated in the dialogues came from 60 provinces and cities, mainly from Southern Tagalog and the Bicol Region; Eastern, Western and Central Visayas; and Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern Mindanao, which are the principal coconut-growing areas in the country.
"What has been agreed upon was the principle of a compromise agreement, which was the basis of the pronouncements made by PCGG Chairman Camilo Sabio," Villaseñor said.
He said one of the reasons the farmers opted to enter into a settlement deal with SMC is that it is a faster alternative to legal action in recovering the funds. As the funds would be immediately available, it could benefit coconut farmers and the development of the industry.
"We acknowledge that court litigation takes too long and is too costly," Villaseñor said. "There were also previous Supreme Court rulings stating that any summary or partial judgment is not yet final and, therefore, cannot be executed. We also believe that the compromise agreement is just right to safeguard the fund," he added.
In 2001, the Supreme Court affirmed the public character of the coco-levy fund. However, of the cases filed by the PCGG before the Sandiganbayan nine years ago, only the 27-percent share of the coco levy-funded Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) in the SMC has been acted upon.
Based on the summary report of the consultation obtained by The Star, the Sandiganbayan has so far made a decision on the 72.2-percent share held by the government in the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), and the lifting of the sequestration of the 20-percent share in SMC being claimed by businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco, allowing him to vote on those shares.
The same report also noted that the coconut levy case and its sub-cases have proven quite complex. Litigation of the cases has dragged on for more than 18 years now, spanning four presidents — Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The coconut levy cases are divided into eight sub-cases involving the UCPB, CIIF Funds and Oil Mills, Mothballed Oil Mills and United Coconut Oil Mills (UNICOM), Bugsok Island Project, CocoLife Insurance, SMC shares, and other cases against Cojuangco and the Coconut Federation.
"Most of these cases are in various stages of litigation. Some may be decided upon sooner, while others may take decades to be resolved," the report noted.
Villaseñor said that among the essential provisions of the compromise agreement is the proposed creation of a coconut farmers’ trust fund controlled by the small coconut farmers and the formation of a trust fund committee, which will mostly consist of coconut farmer-leaders.
The compromise agreement, he added, stipulates that only the annual interest on the 27-percent share in SMC, estimated to amount to around P7 billion, shall be utilized for poverty alleviation and the development of the coconut industry. The 27-percent share of SMC is said to amount to around P75 billion.
Villaseñor further said the compromise agreement would require the increase of coconut farmers’ hospital insurance from P5,000 and P10,000 each to P25,000 and P30,000 each, respectively. It also includes provisions for the education of coconut farmers’ children, micro-lending and the strengthening of research and development of coconut oil.
Around 20 percent of the P75 billion worth of shares in the SMC will be given to the government, specifically the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to fund the coconut replanting program.
Villaseñor noted that one million hectares of coconut land should be expanded to make the coconut oil industry competitive. Meanwhile, militant farmers opposed to the out-of-court settlement held a protest rally at the PCGG office in Mandaluyong City yesterday.
In a statement, Nestor Diego, leader of the Laban ng Masa-Kanayunan, said the PCGG has failed to get the consensus of coconut farmers, especially those still working actively in coconut farms.
He also said that in the Bicol, Quezon and Mindanao areas, the government-sponsored consultations were met with protests from legitimate coconut farmers groups. — With Sandy Araneta