Villar pushes coco levy fund measure
Credit to Author: EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ| Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2019 17:08:59 +0000
SEN. Cynthia Villar is bullish the vetoed coco levy fund bill, which ensures increased income for all coconut farmers, will be reconsidered for approval by President Duterte.
The measure, which seeks to create a P105-billion trust fund for coconut farmers, was vetoed by Duterte last February due to lack of “vital safeguards” for the returns and safety of the fund.
However, Villar, chair of the Senate Agriculture and Food committee, is set to refile the bill with new provisions. She is confident the amended bill will be passed before yearend.
At the sidelines of the 55th International Coconut Community Session and Ministerial Meeting in Pasay City on Monday, Villar identified several new provisions of the vetoed measure which could further improve it to gain Duterte’s nod.
“They (Philippine Coconut Authority) want that the one handling the money is different from [the one] implementing the program…The power seems to be in PCA alone. Now, they want a finance committee which is different from the one who will implement the program,” she explained.
The proposed bill to be refiled is also seeking to improve farmer representation in the PCA, the implementing agency, by allowing the participation of each representative from government agencies including the Department of Agriculture, Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Science and Technology, Land Bank of the Philippines, and Development Bank of the Philippines.
It also provides that the PCA shall spend the money for infrastructure (20 percent); shared facilities (20 percent); planting and replanting and establishment of nurseries (20 percent); intercropping (10 percent); research and development (10 percent); credits (10 percent); creation of new products and marketing, (5 percent); and fertilization, (5 percent).
“The [money] to be given from the coco levy fund is at the rate of P5 billion a year. It’s okay with them (PCA) except the P10 billion we allocated in the industry. They said that since PCA is adjusting, we should change it to just P5 billion a year, until PCA has been organized,” Villar said.
The coconut levy fund came from taxes collected from coconut farmers during the administration of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos. Of the P105-billion fund, P75 billion in cash is kept in the Bureau of Treasury while the remaining P30 billion is still in the form of property and machinery.
The trust fund is expected to benefit 3.5 million coconut farmers who had been suffering from low copra prices. Currently, a Filipino coconut farmer earns a measly P1,500 per month, Villar noted.
To address this, Agriculture Secretary William Dar directed the PCA to also focus on “intercropping” or crops diversification and “massive replanting” to boost the country’s coconut industry.
“We will be looking at every opportunity… as we have a vision of food-secured Philippines with prosperous farmers. We will not only look at productivity but also profitability,” Dar said. “In the next 5 years, we would like to see our coconut farmers doubling their income,” he added.