OCT 23, 2015

NR # 3996

House approves Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund

Coconut farmers and farm workers have something to look forward to a trust fund
for their exclusive benefit as embodied in the Coconut Farmers Development Plan.
The House of Representatives has approved HB 6135 or the proposed Act
establishing the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund and providing for its
management and utilization; and urging the Senate passage of the same.
HB 6135 is in substitution of four (4) separate House Bills, a House Resolution, and
a Petition for Indirect Initiative (PET) No. 0003. Authors of the original measures were
Rep. Sharon S. Garin (HB 4900); Reps. Angelina Tan, and Anthony G. Del Rosario (HB
5208); Rep. Delphine Gan Lee (HB 5250 and HR No. 229); and Reps. Josephine R. Sato
and Kaka Bag-ao (HB 5629).
The sponsoring Committee on Agriculture and Food chaired by Rep. Mark Llandro
L. Mendoza also considered PET 0003 during the panels deliberation of the substitute
bill, submitted by the Kilusan Para Sa Ugnayan Ng Mga Samahang Magniniyog (KilusMagniniyog), for the purpose of proposing legislation to spur rural development in the
coconut sector by establishing the said trust fund.
HB 6135 or the proposed Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act seeks
to consolidate all assets and benefits emanating from the coconut levy, and create a Trust
Fund therefrom, for the exclusive benefit of coconut farmers and farm workers.
It mandates the creation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund
Committee, to be chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture with the Secretary of Finance as
Vice-Chairperson, under the Office of the President, which is tasked to monitor the
implementation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan and approve
disbursements out of the Trust Fund.
Membership to the CFITFC includes the Secretaries of the DILG, Trade and
Industry, and the National Anti-Poverty Commission, NEDA Director-General,
Administrator of the Philippine Coconut Authority, and six (6) representatives from the
coconut farmers organizations composed of two (2) representatives each from Luzon
Visayas and Mindanao.
It also provides for the creation of an Ad-Hoc Committee that shall prepare a five
(5) year plan of programs, activities and project which shall be funded out of the Trust
Fund and which shall be known as the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan.

The bill mandates the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to

conduct a complete accounting and inventory of all Coconut Levy Assets, while the
Commission on Audit (COA) shall audit the inventory of Coconut Levy Assets prepared
by the PCGG and to submit to the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Committee
its initial audit within one hundred twenty (120) days upon completion of the audit.
The proposed trust fund shall consist of the Trust Principal and the Trust Income
and provides that no portion of the Trust Fund shall accrue to the general fund of the
National Government.
The measure also provides that the Trust Fund shall be deposited in the Bureau of
the Treasury (BTr) which shall account for the Trust Fund in the manner provided by the
Committee.
The proposed Act also authorizes the Privatization and Management Office (PMO)
as the sole entity to dispose of the coconut levy assets that have been approved for
privatization, and likewise provides that all proceeds or receipts from the sale of Coconut
Levy Assets shall be remitted to the Trust Fund.
Other co-authors of the House-approve bill include: Chairman Mendoza, Reps.
Evelina G. Escudero; Tedy Brawner Baguilat, Jr.; Leni Gerona-Robredo; Ibarra M.
Gutierez III; Anthony M. Bravo; Cresente M. Paez; Vicente J. Alcala; Sitti Djalia A.
Turabin-Hataman; Jim Hataman-Saliman; Sherwin N. Tugna; Peter M. Unabia; Frederick
F. Abueg; Angelina L. Katoh; Joseph Gilbert F. Violago; Sol Aragones; Francisco
Emmanuel R. Ortega III; Agapito H. Guanlao; Mark M. Enverga; Lilia M. Nuo; Jeffrey
D. Khonghun; and Joselito R. Mendoza.
The measure also mandates the PMO to submit a comprehensive annual report duly
approved or endorsed by the Committee, to the President and Congress on the status of its
privatization efforts and its disposition program for the Coconut Levy Assets. (30) dpt