Farmers push for settlement on SMC shares

Coconut farmers pushing for an out-of-court settlement of their 27 percent shares in food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC) said yesterday that the paper for the compromise agreement will be out in three months.

Efren Villaseñor, president of the 750,000-strong Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Samahan ng Magsasaka at Manggagawa sa Niyugan, revealed that the compromise deal is now being drafted and might be submitted to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in May.

Villaseñor said the text for the compromise agreement is currently being composed by stakeholders and will be presented to coconut farmers nationwide through a consultation that starts next month.

It will then be signed by coconut-farmer leaders or their representatives and submitted to the PCGG.

"We will finish the contents of the compromise agreement before or by the end of this month and conduct a month-long consultation in coconut-growing areas in the country. The consultation will be faster than the consultation for the amicable settlement and compromise agreement (ASCA) we had last year," Villaseñor told reporters.

He explained that the heart of ASCA is the creation of the Coconut Farmers Development Trust Fund (CFDTF), which will be controlled by the small coconut farmers and the formation of a trust fund committee.

Although still open to revision, the CFDTF shall be composed of the President of the Philippines and heads of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and Department of Finance (DOF). It will also include nine trustees from the coconut farmers sector and other stakeholders who will elect individuals to certain positions in the trust fund committee.

The compromise agreement, Villaseñor added, would also include the stipulation that only the annual interest of the 27 percent shares in SMC, estimated to amount to around P7 billion, shall be utilized for poverty alleviation projects and the development of the coconut industry.

The 27 percent shares of coconut farmers in SMC are said to amount to around P75 billion, 20 percent of which will be given to the government, specifically to the PCA for the coconut replanting program.

Villaseñor noted that the country’s one million-hectare coconut lands should be expanded to make the coconut oil industry competitive.

He added that the compromise agreement would require an increase in the coconut farmers’ hospital insurance from around P5,000 to P10,000 each to P25,000 to P30,000 each. It should also include programs for the education of coconut farmers’ children, micro-lending, and other programs that would address the basic needs of the coconut farmers and the strengthening of research and development for coconut oil.

At yesterday’s press conference, coconut-farmer leaders clarified that the out-of-court settlement they are seeking would be "court-supervised."

"After we submitted the compromise agreement to the PCGG, it will then submit (this) to the Sandiganbayan, who would approve it and basically make the compromise agreement into a law," Villaseñor explained.

The coconut farmer-leaders favor the compromise deal with SMC because they believe that "it is a faster and yet a legal way to recover the funds" and would result in the immediate utilization of the fund, ensuring benefits for the coconut farmers and the development of the industry.

They said the writ of execution pending at the Sandiganbayan might take longer since its resolution depends on the resolution of the 20 percent share being claimed by SMC chairman Eduardo Cojuangco.

On May 7, 2004, the Sandiganbayan declared the 27 percent shares as owned by the government to be held in trust for the coconut farmers. The anti-graft court though has yet to resolve the case due to the 20 percent shares.

"Thus, the writ of execution, though pending at the court, could not be acted upon by the government because the case on the 20 percent shares has yet to be decided on by the Sandiganbayan. That makes the decision on the 27 percent shares still not final and executory," Villaseñor said.

Moreover, the coconut levy cases are further divided into eight sub-cases: UCPB, CIIF Funds and Oil Mills, Mothballed Oil Mills and United Coconut Oil Mills, Bugsok Island Project, CocoLife Insurance, SMC shares, and other cases against Cojuangco and the Coconut Federation (Cocofed).

Villaseñor said that for so many years, the court managed to only render decision on two cases — the UCPB and the SMC shares.

"Based on our computation and on the almost 20 years of struggle for the (right to the) coconut levy funds, it would take us another 100 years before we could take advantage of the funds," Villaseñor said.