{"id":32121,"date":"2014-11-19T17:32:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T09:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=32121"},"modified":"2014-11-19T17:32:54","modified_gmt":"2014-11-19T09:32:54","slug":"government-ready-to-discuss-coco-levy-fund-with-coconut-farmers-says-palace-official","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/11\/19\/government-ready-to-discuss-coco-levy-fund-with-coconut-farmers-says-palace-official\/","title":{"rendered":"Government ready to discuss coco levy fund with coconut farmers, says Palace official"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Coconut<\/a>
Coconut Farm (Ranjithsiji \/ Wikipedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA — The government is ready to hold a dialogue with coconut farmers who want the coco levy fund to be returned to them after several decades, a Palace official said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“Ang kapakanan ng mga mamamayan at \u2018yung makatwirang pananagot ng pamahalaan sa mga pondo ng bayan, katulad ng coconut levy, ang ating batayang prinsipyo diyan <\/em>(the welfare of our people and the responsibilities of the government about public funds, like the coconut levy, are our basic principles),” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said during a press briefing.<\/p>\n

It was reported that a group of coconut farmers from Davao is planning to go to Malaca\u00f1ang to ask the government to return the coco levy fund to them.<\/p>\n

Coloma said the Palace acknowledges the farmers’ rights to air their grievances regarding the coco levy fund, so long as it is done in a peaceful manner.<\/p>\n

“Handang makipag-usap ang mga kinauukulan mula sa pamahalaan upang unawain ang kanilang kahilingan at tumugon ito sa isang paraang tinutukoy ang kanilang mga<\/em> concerns (Our authorities are ready to discuss [the coco levy fund issue] in order to understand their concerns and address these concerns appropriately),” he added.<\/p>\n

The Palace official assured the coconut farmers that the government would act for the benefit of the entire coconut industry.<\/p>\n

He said such agencies as the Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Coconut Authority are the primary entities that address the needs of coconut farmers.<\/p>\n

“Kaya\u2019t makakaasa ang ating mga magsasaka sa industriya ng niyugan na gagawin ng pamahalaan ang nararapat\u00a0<\/em>(Our coconut farmers can count on the government to do what is right),” Coloma noted.<\/p>\n

“Maaari din silang lumahok sa konsultasyon kung ano ang pinakamainam na paraan na matutugunan ang kanilang mga<\/em> development needs, dahil ang mga pondong ito ay nakalaan talaga para sa kanilang kapakinabangan\u00a0<\/em>(they can also join the consultation on the best way to address their development needs, because this [coco levy] fund is meant for their use).”<\/p>\n

The coco levy fund scam was a controversy in the 1970s and 1980s, involving former President Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies, among them Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.<\/p>\n

Marcos and his cronies allegedly conspired to tax coconut farmers, promising them development of the coconut industry and a share of the investments, but on the contrary used the accumulated money for their personal profit.<\/p>\n

They purchased the United Coconut Planters Bank and a majority stake in San Miguel Corp. using the fund.<\/p>\n

The coconut farmers have been fighting for justice for decades against the forced taxation, and a share of the Coco Levy Funds’ investments.<\/p>\n

The coco levy fund is estimated to have ballooned anywhere in the range of P100 billion to P150 billion in assets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA — The government is ready to hold a dialogue with coconut farmers who want the coco levy fund to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":32122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1482,1145,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking","category-headline","category-news-ph","mauthors-philippines-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}