The last word on the coco-levy fund

MANILA, Philippines - Having been bandied about in the media for more than a couple of decades now, you’d think all the pompous talk about this conundrum called “the coco-levy fund” is by now winding down. Well, apparently not.

Like the Loch-Ness Monster, the coco-levy fund will most likely continue to engage the imagination of — well, of everyone from the banal to the delusional.

Lately, militant Party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis has dared President-elect Noy to fast-track the recovery of the multi-billion peso coco-levy fund “from the control of his uncle, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr.”

The PCGG has been at the forefront of this recovery effort, and as a PCGG Commissioner familiar with the coco-levy fund, let me share with the public my views on the matter.

The ultimate decision on the ownership of the coco-levy funds rests with the Supreme Court, not with the executive branch of our government, and so it is unfair to impose on President-elect Noynoy Aquino a burden over which he has no effective or direct control. In short, because Noynoy has no authority to decide on the matter one way or the other, neither should he be given the responsibility. No authority, no responsibility.

The so-called coco-levy fund is not in a box, a suitcase, a trunk or a huge vault. Like money that used to be neatly stashed in your pocket, the fund has been spent or invested in this and that. This “this and that” includes investments in the United Coconut Planters Bank, which is now a profit-earning major bank under the dynamic leadership of Ramon Sy; in a variety of coconut oil mills which, under the effective administration of CIIF head Jesus Arranza, have likewise been posting profits; in insurance giant Cocolife ably headed by Fred Tumacder; and in a host of other companies. What complicates matters even more is that these organizations, in turn, have invested their funds in their subsets of their own “this and that’s.” In so many words, the recovery of the coco-levy fund is less like towing a parked car, and more like retrieving milk spilt into sand.

The public benefits from the coco-levy fund, because the fund, pending their distribution to small coconut farmers, has been an engine of growth to our capital-starved economy. That fund, as has been stated, has been invested in a number of companies — companies that provide employment to tens of thousands, companies that pay huge taxes, and that provide valuable services — such as the marketing in the world market of our coconut products. Under an insurance program, coconut farmers and their dependents are given free insurance coverage. It is farthest from the truth, and makes for the narrowest viewpoint, to think that the coco-levy fund is benefiting Danding Cojuangco solely.

From the small contributions to the Pagibig fund, Pagibig is able to lend billions of housing loans. From the contributions to the SSS and GSIS funds, these two organizations are able to amass huge amounts that are needed not only to support the needs of their members, but also to fund government undertakings. That is also the situation with the coco fund – because it has remained intact over a period of time, it has snowballed into something big, currently estimated to be worth 150 billion pesos. It is conceivable that the coco-levy fund has benefited the country more than it could have if it had been distributed to coconut farmers early on.

But suppose, for the sake of argument, that the coco fund is in a 40-footer container van, rather than invested in a variety of companies, and ready for distribution. The question now is, “Who qualifies to be called a ‘small coconut farmer’?” Does a “farmer” with only three coconut trees in his backyard more qualified to benefit from the fund than another farmer with, say, one thousand trees? Suppose there is ownership quarrel over the land, who then is the farmer? And who in a household is the farmer – only the father, or are the sons and even daughters who also plant included in the count?

Before you can divvy up anything, you have to have both the numerator and the denominator in place. First you want to know how much the fund is worth (numerator), and next you want to know how many will share in it (the denominator). I assure the public: Identifying the coconut farmers in all the nooks and crannies of the Philippine archipelago who are qualified to share in the fund, is a bigger nightmare than stitching together a purged nationwide voters list (which, it has been proven, is something we have never successfully accomplished). We’ll see riots in the streets should a number of coco farmers be left out in the fund distribution.

Government must be FOR and not AGAINST big business. The likes of Henry Sy of Shoemart, Ramon Ang of San Miguel, Manny Pangilinan of PLDT and other big businessmen, captains of industry and taipans should be COMMENDED not CONDEMNED for their near heroic efforts providing thousands of jobs, paying enormous taxes, keeping our economy going and our heads above the water.

Government and business are partners. They are in a symbiotic relationship, but a few crazy people put them at odds with one another, as though growing big were a sin.

Why is the Supreme Court taking so long deciding on the coco fund? (We of course pray that the High Court hand down a decision soon as possible since this landmark case has been pending for more than two decades, with far-reaching implications for our country and our people) Because our SC justices, unlike Rep. Mariano, are under duty to understand the complexity of issues surrounding the fund, preparatory to putting out an intelligent decision that is defensible on strictly rational grounds alone, minus the emotions and the rabble-rousing that the “militants” among us are free to stir up under the constitutional rubric of free expression.

I mean, there are experts, and there are laymen.