Recto seeks audit of coco levy fund

MANILA, Philippines - Amid conflicting estimates on the value of the coco levy fund, Sen. Ralph Recto has called for an audit to determine its real worth.

Recto made the call after the Asset Privatization Trust put the fund at P100 billion while a financial institution computed it at P73 billion.

He also noted that government lawyers placed the fund at P60 billion while a Cabinet member said it is worth P72 billion.

“There are lots of numbers being bandied about,” he said.

Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) chairman Andres Bautista said his agency’s appraisal of the fund’s present value has been pegged at P80 billion.

Recto said only the Commission on Audit can settle the confusion and present a clear picture on the value, status, interests, income and assets of the fund. He said COA has both the expertise and the mandate “to follow the money and catalogue the assets.”

“Because the levies were used to acquire a myriad of corporations and finance ventures, we need an audit to show where these are and the state of investments,” Recto said.

Among the investments are seven oil mills; seven firms engaged in various businesses, including banking, insurance and chemicals; and 10 companies in copra trading. The Coconut Industry Investment Fund made the investments before 1982.

The investments – among which are the 753.8 million shares in San Miguel Corp. (SMC) worth P56 billion during the buy-back – have been declared as public funds by the Supreme Court. The high court’s partial entry of judgment last week paves the way for its eventual plowback to farmers.

“For government to properly administer the fund and distribute the dividends, it must have an idea of how much money is involved,” Recto said.

“If we can count all the coconut trees in the country at 338,339,638, we won’t have a hard time counting the fruits of the coco levy funds,” he added.

Under Republic Act 6260, the coco levy was imposed on copra sales purportedly to raise capital investment for the coconut industry.

The total amount collected from the various coconut levies from 1971 to 1981 was P9.7 billion. The amount was sequestered by the PCGG following the Edsa People Power Revolution in 1986.

On May 7, 2004, the Sandiganbayan rendered a partial  judgment declaring that the companies funded by coco levy funds are “owned by the government in trust for all the coconut farmers.”

The Supreme Court, in its decision dated Jan. 24, 2012 upheld the Sandiganbayan. In the same year, the SMC shares amounting to P57 billion were remitted to the National Treasury.