I cannot agree more with Sen. Joker Arroyo when he said, among others things, that the “Supreme Court ruling that the government owned a portion of the multibillion-peso coco levy funds collected from farmers during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos was “too obscure,” “too late” and “too little.” (Inquirer, 1/26/12)
Be that as it may, I suggest that the funds be used for the “rehabilitation of the coconut industry and for the alleviation of the plight of the farmers whom chairman Andres Bautista of the Presidential Commission on Good Government described as the “poorest of the poor.”
Precisely, the coconut industry must be subsidized by the government in terms of free planting materials, free fertilizers to the farmers and cash assistance.
—CRISOSTOMO B. VILAR,
vice mayor, Pagsanjan, Laguna;
chair, Cocofed-Pagsanjan Chapter