(Photo grabbed from web)
CLARK FREEORT – As the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) marked last week the 33rd National Coconut Week, farmers pointed out the “irony of millions of coconut farmers nationwide reeling from the effects of depressed copra prices.”
“We have raised this urgent issue of plummeting copra prices to the PCA early this year but the farmers’ plea and demands fell on deaf ears,” Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) chair Danilo Ramos said in a statement yesterday.
This, as the KMP urged new PCA administrator Atty. Gonzalo Duque and Agriculture Sec. William Dar to reveal “the actual status and whereabouts of the P75-billion coco levy fund and other assets derived from the Coconut Levy Fund (CLF).
“Even the Commission on Audit has not issued an audit report on the coco levy fund and assets despite repeated demand of the congressional oversight committees,” said Ramos who also noted that “small coconut farmers are being shortchanged and duped anew through long-standing denial to access the coco levy fund.”
Ramos said “We have been demanding the return of the coco levy fund for ages. We have had so many Congress and Senate hearings about this national concern.”
He also noted that “farmers have marched from Mindanao to Malacanang to demand the return of the coco levy.”
Ramos lamented that “Duterte even vetoed the approved coco levy bill because he didn’t want a strong farmers’ representation in the Coco Levy Trust Fund Committee that is tasked to manage the fund and assets.”
“Since 2018, farmers nationwide have been demanding an increase in copra prices and seeking urgent government support,” he said.
Ramos reported that in Bicol, the prices of copra have plunged to as low as P10 per kilo. In Mindanao, copra prices have also considerably gone down to only P14 to P17 per kilo.
“In some areas in Caraga region, farmers have stopped selling copra because of the huge losses,” he said.
“The situation is not much different in Quezon province, a major coconut-producing province whose farmers contributed the most to the coco levy fund in the ‘70s to ‘80s. Across towns in Quezon province, copra prices range from P13 to P14 per kilo while whole coconuts are priced at P4 per piece and lower,” Ramos also said.
“Sobrang hirap na ang kalagayan ng mga magniniyog. Epekto ito ng pagbagsak ng presyo ng aming produkto — ng kopra at buong niyog,” coconut farmer Eliseo Batarlo of Macalelon, Quezon told KMP.
Ramos said that since April, farmers in Quezon have been asking local governments to declare a state of calamity and allocate the calamity fund to affected coconut farmers to help alleviate their economic conditions.
“However, in May, farmers have noted instead the increasing deployment of AFP soldiers in their communities particularly in San Francisco, Lopez, Catanuan, Macalelon, and Lopez towns,” he said.
Ramos lamented that while “the farmers were sincere in asking the government to squarely address the problem of copra prices the government’s response was militarization and human rights violations.”
“Progressive organizations including Anakpawis Partylist, were even declared ‘persona non grata’ in five villages in Lopez, Quezon. Farmers cannot even return to their homes and farms because of threats from the military, particularly from the 85th IB led by Lt. Col Arnold Gasalatan and Lt. Col. Randy Bobis,” KMP reported.
