Piñol hopeful on release of P60-B coco levy funds

The release of P60 billion worth of coconut levy funds before year-end remains on schedule, according to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol.

Piñol said he met with the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office to discuss the release to local farmers of the P60-billion fund which is now in the National Treasury, as per the instruction of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“Yes (on track by yearend). We will come up with the administration’s version of what we would like to happen with the coco levy,” he said.

The coco levy funds, amounting to over P70 billion, were taxes imposed on coconut farmers mandated by Presidential Decree 755 in 1975.

The taxes were supposed to be used for the construction of projects designed for the benefit of coconut farmers but were instead used to buy a large percentage of the bank now known as United Coconut Planters Bank under Danding Cojuangco.

Piñol is in continuous discussions with Zamboanga City First District Rep. Celso Lobregat to come up with a bill that will be certified as urgent.

“The Congress on its own is also preparing a bill for the release of the coco levy,” he said.

Piñol earlier said bulk of the fund would be used for the rehabilitation and expansion of the industry while the balance would be allocated for scholarships of farmers’ children and other projects that would benefit the industry’s beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Coconut Authority ( PCA) has implemented a 60-day emergency containment measure to reverse the damaging effects of cocolisap in Basilan.

The government has initially allotted P104 million for the application of the “integrated pest management” protocol, including labor requirement for trunk injection and leaf pruning for every 2.1 million affected trees, as well as the rehabilitation of the affected areas after the 60-day treatment.

Basilan is one of the top coconut producers in the country with an annual production of 163.2 million metric tons of copra.