Erap says SC order on coco levy funds to affect farmers

MANILA, Philippines - Former president Joseph Estrada said yesterday that the hundreds of thousands of farmers who are beneficiaries of the coco levy funds stand to lose in the recent ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) declaring his Executive Order (EO) Nos. 312 and 313 “unconstitutional.”

In a 23-page decision, the SC granted on Friday the petition of farmers belonging to the Pambansang Koalisyon ng mga Samahang Magsasaka at Manggagawa sa Niyugan and nullified Estrada’s Executive Order Nos. 312 and 313, which were supposed to put up trust funds for farmers from sequestered shares in San Miguel Corporation (SMC) acquired through coconut levy funds.

In a telephone interview with The STAR, Estrada said with the ruling, the farmer-beneficiaries will not be able to immediately use the trust funds since these will still be subject to court proceedings.

“I cannot understand it (SC ruling). The intention of EOs 312 and 313 was to fast track the release of the 27 percent of the coco levy to the farmers so that they could use it. (Business tycoon Eduardo) Danding Cojuangco is not contesting the 27 percent shares in SMC,” Estrada said.

“The farmers are the ones who lost in this ruling because their 27 percent share will be delayed again,” Estrada added.

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rescinded Estrada’s EOs 312 and 313 and upheld the previous declaration of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) as public funds when she took over the presidency in 2001.

But in a unanimous vote, the SC justices still saw the need to rule on the constitutionality of the orders that were no longer in effect.

The high court said EO 312 and 313 violated Article IX-D, Section 2(1) of the 1987 Constitution by taking away from the Commission on Audit (COA) its power to look into the use of the coco levy funds that were already declared public by the earlier Presidential Decree 1445, “Ordaining and Instituting a Government Auditing Code of the Philippines” approved by Congress.

“An executive order cannot repeal a presidential decree which has the same standing as a statute enacted by Congress,” according to the court’s decision penned by Associate Justice Roberto Abad, which Chief Justice Renato Corona and nine other justices concurred with.

The SC also raised a question as to the real motive of Estrada’s orders.

It held that the orders had also transferred the power to allocate, use and disburse coco levy funds vested in the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to a new coconut trust fund committee, in violation of Section 84(2) of PD 1445.

The high court pointed out that the coco levy funds are special funds that should be treated as taxes.

EO No. 312 sought to put up a maximum fund of P1 billion through the sale of assets acquired through the coco levy funds or by entities financed by the coco levy funds.

On the other hand, EO No. 313 sought to create at least P40 billion in trust fund out of a 27 percent stake in SMC under CIIF. 

Malacañang, for its part, said its legal team would still have to study the SC ruling declaring as unconstitutional the executive orders of Estrada.

“We will be consulting with the legal (team) in the Office of the President. It’s a recent development,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over radio dzRB. – With Aurea Calica