Duterte rejected bill tweaking PCA board membership — Sotto

President Rodrigo Duterte has vetoed the proposed law strengthening the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) board, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said.

Sotto, during the Upper Chamber's session Friday night, bared receiving a message from the Office of the President stating that Duterte was rejecting the bill seeking to reconstitute the PCA board in order to increase farmer representation in the agency.

"The Honorable Senate President and members of the Senate, ladies and gentleman, we respectfully transmit herewith the veto message of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on consolidated enrolled Senate Bill No. 1976 and House Bill 8552 entitled 'An Act to Further Strengthen the Philippine Coconut Authority'," read part of the letter signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

The PCA manages the distribution of the 1105-billion coco levy fund.

Medialdea's letter included the President's veto message, which was not read at the Senate plenary.

Duterte, in a letter received by Sotto's office on February 8, said he is "constrained to veto" the strengthened PCA bill despite its inclusion in the priority measures of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC)

The Chief Executive said that while he recognized that the bill aimed to protect coconut farmers and ensure the delivery of their benefits via the coconut trust fund, "the present formulation of the proposed legislative measure regrettably lacks vital safeguards to avoid the repetition of painful mistakes in the past."

He added that the powers to be granted by the proposed law to the PCA "undermine relevant regulations and safeguards that were established precisely to avoid abuses."

"I am certain that neither Congress [nor] the Executive can bear to see our coconut farmers being exposed to injury by the very legislation that was intended for their benefit or protection, especially if such injury could have been prevented by the institution of necessary safeguards," Duterte said.

The Chief Executive did not specify in his letter the supposed lapses of the enrolled bill.

The measure seeking to strengthen the PCA board was supposed to complement the proposed Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act, which would facilitate the release of the controversial coco levy fund collected from farmers during the administration of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

It would amend the Revised Coconut Industry Code of 1978 by increasing the number of farmer-representatives in the 11-member PCA board. The coco levy bill also contained such provision.

Some of President Duterte's Cabinet members had earlier expressed "dislike" over the initially- proposed composition of the 11-man PCA board as they preferred government officials—not farmers—to comprise the majority of its members.

In the original proposal, six farmerrepresentatives, four government agency representatives, and one private sector representative shall make up the PCA board.

The PCA bill was then amended to raise the number of PCA board members from 11 to 15.

From the initial four, government membership was increased to eight. This includes the Department of Agriculture, Department of Finance, Department of Budget and Management, National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Landbank and the Development Bank of the Philippines.

The number of farmer-representatives was retained in the proposed PCA board, specifically two each from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The private sector retained its lone representative.