Gov't asked to use interest earnings of levy funds for dev't of coconutindustry

Coconut oil refiners want government to spend the profits made out of the P50-billion coconut levy funds on industry development even while the Supreme Court has yet to decide on the ownership of the funds.

According to the Coconut Oil Refiners Association (CORA), the issue of whether the coconut levy funds constitute public or private funds is immaterial. Government should still be able to spend at least the interest earnings while leaving the principal amount untouched, the group said.

CORA president Jesus Lim Arranza said there is no legal impediment to the utilization of the profit generated by the investments made out of the proceeds of the coconut levy.

"It's not material whether the fund is public or private," Arranza said. "There is no argument that the fund should be spent on coconut industry development projects so it can be used now, even without the ruling from the Supreme Court."

Pooled under the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF), the proceeds of the coconut levy have been invested on various businesses directly and indirectly. Most of these assets are now under sequestration by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

According to Arranza, the coconut industry is in need of funds to finance its rehabilitation and development. "The government should at least plow the interest back to the coconut industry to serve the original purpose of the levy," he said.

Spending the coconut levy funds, however, will not be easy as the government remains undecided on which government agency will manage the fund. Although the coconut levy fund administration is among the functions of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), president Joseph Estrada announced earlier that he was creating a special body that would administer the trust fund which now amounts to P50 billion.

Arranza said CORA is also asking for a seat in this committee, adding that the fund should be turned over ultimately to the United Coconut Association of the Philippines (UCAP).

UCAP is an organization with representatives from the coconut farmers, coconut millers, coconut desiccators, coconut refiners, coconut shell, charcoal and activated carbon producers and exporters, copra exporters, coconut oil producers, oleochemical manufacturers and the United Coconut Planters Bank. Also pending for Estrada's signature are two more executive orders including one drafted by Agrarian Reform Secretary Horacio Morales which reportedly gave the Coconut Producers Federation (Cocofed) a seat in the commission that would manage the fund.

Cocofed is closely identified with San Miguel Corp. chairman Eduardo Cojuangco whose assets had been sequestered on suspicion of being part of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth.