‘Congress must override Duterte’s veto of bill creating coco trust fund’

CongreSS must override President Duterte’s veto of the bill creating the P100 billion trust fund for the benefit of coconut farmers, according to former House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo “erin” r. tañada iii.

Because of the delay in the setup of a trust fund, tañada urged the Department of agriculture (Da) to look after the welfare of coconut farmers who have been reeling from the steep decline in the price of copra.

“our coconut farmers are not earning since last year. they lost hope when the President vetoed the coco-lev y bill,” he said in a statement.

By refusing to sign the bill, tañada said the President “wasted the efforts of coconut farmers to fight for the enactment of a measure that will improve their lives.”

“Unless Congress overrides the veto when it convenes this may, we are back to square one. this is a major disappointment to our coconut farmers, especially since the President promised this in 2016,” he said.

While the coconut levy is one of the priority bills of the Duterte administration, the President said he vetoed it as it is “lacking in vital safeguards to avoid the repetition of painful mistakes committed in the past.” He pointed to the establishment of an effectively perpetual trust Fund in Senate Bill 1233 and House Bill 5745 as the provision which was considered violative of the Constitution.

Under article Vi, Section 29(3) of the 1987 Constitution, “all money collected on any tax levied for a special purpose shall be treated as a special fund and paid for such purpose only. if the purpose for which a special fund was created has been fulfilled or abandoned, the balance, if any, shall be transferred to the general fund of the government.”

Cheaper copra tañaDa also urged the Da to “act fast” to arrest the slump in copra prices. He said the department should provide subsidy to give them immediate relief.

the government, he said, should also consider constructing more farm infrastructure and to help farmers find new markets for their crop.

Farmers stopped harvesting copra last year when the average millgate price fell to as low as P15 per kilogram. this prompted agriculture Secretary emmanuel F. Piñol to urge traders to hike their buying price.

Last week, the Da warned that “heartless” traders who failed to raise their copra buying price will not be able to enjoy the benefits of a business deal that will expand exporters’ access to the eastern european market.