CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The movement Coco Levy Funds Ibalik sa Amin (Claim) urged yesterday Presidential Adviser on Food Security Francis Pangilinan to push the return of the multi-billion coco levy funds and assets to small coconut farmers.
“Small coconut farmers will thwart Pres. Aquino’s latest attempt to dip his hands over the multi-billion coco levy fund and assets,” said Claim spokesperson Nestor Villanueva. He was referring to the reported draft executive order dated April 7, 2014 titled “Providing the Administrative Guidelines for the Utilization of the Coco Levy Assets” that would privatize the fund.
Villanueva said genuine small coconut farmers from Cagayan, Aurora, Quezon, Bicol, Samar, Leyte, Aklan, and Mindanao provinces will gather at the “Pambansang Konsultasyon ng mga Magsasaka sa Niyugan” on Aug. 27 in Guinobatan, Albay to tackle and unite against the President’s move to privatize coco levy-acquired assets.
They will also tackle the coco levy fund recovery, and the coconut scale insect or “cocolisap” infestation. Villanueva said that “privatization will diminish and completely deny small coconut farmers of their legitimate and rightful claim over coco levy-funded assets and corporations which include, among others, the CIIF-oil mills and the United Coconut Planters Bank.”
“The Aquino government is maneuvering to monetize coco levy-funded assets by putting these corporations in auction. Now, both the more than P70-billion coco levy money and coco levy-acquired assets are vulnerable to be plundered again,” he noted.
“This clearly shows small coconut farmers cannot expect the Aquino administration to build and develop the coconut industry,” Villanueva said He lamented that “Aquino’s roadmap for the coconut industry is the sell-out of coco levy-funded assets and deny small coconut farmers of vital coco industry-related assets like the oil mills and the UCPB.”
“We challenge Pangilinan to cause the turn-over of the coco levy fund-acquired assets instead of pushing the privatization of these assets and corporations,” the peasant leader said. Reports said that among the key provisions of the draft executive order are the privatization of coconut levy assets and the organization of a Multisectoral Consultative Committee for the Coconut Industry, with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) as the implementing arm.
Villanueva also described as “ironic” the Aquino government and the PCA 28th National Coconut Week Celebration and 1st International Coconut Festival and Trade Fair on August 28-31 at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City where the draft executive order will also be presented.
“While small coconut farmers are discussing problems like the coco levy fund, ‘cocolisap’ infestation, and the free distribution of coco plantations, Pangilinan and the PCA will continue with the sell-out of the coco levy fund assets and perpetuate the backward coconut industry,” Villanueva said.
