The Kilus Magniniyog march from Davao City to Malacañang last year took the coconut levy issue to greater heights. Seventy-one coconut farmers marched for 71 days to push government to utilize a recovered portion of the coco levy amounting to P71 billion. It earned the attention and support of various sectors across society. It led to a dialogue with President Aquino in November, where major pronouncements were made after four long years of silence on the issue.
In that dialogue the President agreed and committed to issue an executive order to govern the use of interest earnings from the recovered coco levy for the direct benefit of the coconut farmers. The President also agreed to certify an urgent measure in Congress to make the idea a permanent reality through the creation of a “farmers trust fund.” While he expressly claimed to be on the side of the farmers, he admitted that his hands were tied due to the absence of an Entry of Judgment by the Supreme Court.
Fortunately, the Kilus Magniniyog march earned as well the attention of the Supreme Court justices, and this eventually led to the issuance of the Entry of Judgment shortly thereafter. It took the farmers’ visit and petition to Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno to hasten the high court’s issuance following a petition by government. So for the first time in three decades of court battle, a huge portion of the coco levy has been recovered from Danding Cojuangco’s clutches and is now in the hands of government, free of any legal impediment.
Kilus Magniniyog took the issue to the legislature even earlier. Kilus filed their own measure establishing the Coconut Farmers’ Trust Fund, as a peoples’ initiative bill. Sen. Bam Aquino adopted the petition under his authorship. Even without any certification from Malacañang, the Senate responded with swiftness. The Senate committee on agriculture, chaired by Sen. Cynthia Villar, took serious pains in consulting with the coco farmers and hearing the coco levy bills. The resulting substitute bill, more or less, embodies salient points raised by the coco farmers but needs further scrutiny.
The House of Representatives has not been quite as responsive. This is possibly due to the presence of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), led by Danding Cojuangco, which chairs the committee on agriculture through its secretary general.
Three months running now without any legal impediment whatsoever, Malacañang has yet to “walk its talk.” The coconut farmers are apprehensive as 2016 nears and with political realignments, especially by the NPC, recently taking place. The President should be wary and should not let politics get in the way this time, as it did previously. There simply exists no more reason to make the coconut farmers wait in vain. Putting clarity to this decades-old issue transcends administrations. It can either serve to be a big feather on one’s hat or an iron ball chained to a leg.
—JOEY FAUSTINO,
executive director,
Coconut Industry Reform Movement Inc.,
coir_inc@yahoo.com