Coco levy fund scam: Gold for the corrupt, crumbs for farmers

Part 1: Many coconut farmers have died waiting in vain, and with them went the hope
they would one day reap the 'rewards' of what's seen as among the biggest scams of
the century

Camille Elemia
@CamilleElemia
Published 10:00 AM, January 21, 2017
Updated 1:28 PM, January 30, 2017
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RACING AGAINST TIME. Nearly 44 years after the coco levy was first imposed,
coconut farmers – belonging to the country's poorest of the poor – have continued to
suffer in silence.

Part 1 of 3

READ: Part 2: The politics of the coco levy scam: From Marcos to Noynoy Aquino
 READ: Part 3: Return coco levy to farmers? Duterte's promise and political will

QUEZON, Philippines – It’s a long, uphill climb to Barangay Potol in Tayabas, Quezon,
one of the coconut farming towns in the province.

Just a few kilometers away from urban centers are makeshift bamboo bridges that have
failed residents several times for the past decades.

Left with no option, residents like Aling Rosing, Ka Sita, and Mang Ruben live with the
risk and go on with their lives.

The 3 are among the 3.5 million coconut farmers, earning an estimated P16,000
annually and belonging to the country’s poorest of the poor. They are victims of the
coco levy fund scam from 1971 to 1983 under the Marcos administration, with collected
taxes amounting to P9.7 billion.

These farmers were taxed by the government, only for their payments to be used by
former president Ferdinand Marcos and his alleged cronies, Eduardo "Danding"
Cojuangco Jr, Juan Ponce Enrile, and some others, to invest in and buy businesses for
their own benefit.

More than 45 years since the taxes were imposed on their coconut products, farmers
have yet to receive the benefits promised them. They have had no option but to face
reality and wait for the day when the funds – rightfully theirs – would be returned to
them.

On Wednesday, January 18, several coconut farmers held a protest anew in front of the
Department of Agriculture in Quezon City to demand the release of funds, which the
Supreme Court ruled to belong to the public in 2014.

With stock certificates

Aling Rosing Valdeavilla, 77 years old, and her departed husband Remigio have been
coconut farmers for more than 5 decades. They relied mainly on coconut and rice
farming to support their 6 children.

Years may have passed, but for her, it seems just like yesterday when the government
promised them “rewards” in exchange for taxes collected from their copra sales. Her
husband died in 2013, and with him went the hope that they would one day reap the
promised “rewards.”

She has carefully kept the “stock certificates” or the certificates indicating their
supposed ownership of stocks of certain companies where their money was invested –
United Coconut Planters Bank, Cocolife insurance, Legaspi Oil Company, Granexport
Manufacturing Corporation, and San Pablo Manufacturing Corporation, among others.

Cojuangco was among the signatories in the documents.

UCPB. This shows Aling Rosing's husband had minute shares in the UCPB while big
time businessmen and allies of former president Ferdinand Marcos had millions of
stocks in several coco levy companies. Photo by Camille Elemia/Rappler

Photo by Camille Elemia/Rappler

She also still has the coupons that served as proof then that the government deducted
levies from their copra.

BACK. The back portion of the receipts of levies imposed on coconut farmers. Photo by
Camille Elemia/Rappler

TAX. This shows that on May 8, 1980, Aling Rosing's husband was deducted 55
centavos for 100 kilos of his copra.
Each year they hoped and hoped, but nothing came out of it. Aling Rosing is now living
with her daughter and has no pension from the government. She said she and her
husband did not avail of social security then because they had no money to pay for it.

"Paano sabi ipunin at may dadating na gantimpala sa amin. Ngayon sa bangko, isusubo
namin at kami’y bibigyan daw. Ako'y binigyan nga po P150 lang. Yun lamang
natanggap ko," she recalled.

(They told us to collect it and rewards will come soon after. I remitted some to a bank in
Lucena because they said they will give us something in exchange. They gave us
money but I only got P150. That's all I receiveed.)

Asked if she questioned it, Aling Rosing said: "Hindi, kami'y naniniwala na ganun
sinasabi sa 'min, di naman kami natutol bakit ganyan lamang binigay sa amin."

(No. We believed whatever they were telling us. We didn't protest, why they gave us
only a small amount.)

Trust fund for farmers

69-year-old widower Ruben Rasay and his deceased wife had been coconut farmers for
more than 4 decades. Like Aling Rosing, he has no pension and is now living alone in
his house, relying on his children’s graces to live day by day. Sometimes when his
health permits, he says, he still makes copra.

ALONE. Ruben Rasay, 69, now lives alone in his home after his wife died. When his
health allows him to, he still makes copra.

Unlike Ka Rosing, he was not able to keep the documents. In fact, he does not even
understand what the coco levy is. All he cared about then, he said, was raising his
children.

He, however, is sure that the government taxed him and his parents for their products.
“Narinig ko na yun noong una pa. Binibigyan kami ng card. Inipon nang inipon tapos
naiwan na rin. Akala ko’y di na magagamit yun. Naririnig ko ang coco levy lagi pero di
ko masyado, di ko binibigyang pansin. 'Di ko alam ano nangyayari noon,” he said.

(I heard about it before. We were given cards. We collected and collected them but we
lost them. I thought they had no use. I always hear about the coco levy but I did not give
it much attention. I did not know the details then.)

Luisita Esmao or Ka Sita, 60, grew up with coconut farmers as parents. She was unable
to finish college but made it to 2nd year by being a working student in Manila.

Now, she is a farmer leader and is among those who marched from Davao City to
Malacañang in 2014 to demand the execution of a trust fund for coconut farmers.

LONG ROAD. Ka Sita and other farmers living in Barangay Potol have to endure the
nearly 1-hour hike with unreliable bridges to get to the highway.

“Ang tatay ko ay sila yung mismong nakolektahan ng coco levy. Maliit pa ako noon, may
drawer ng aparador sa amin, punung-puno ng green coco receipts. Sabi ng nanay na
pag nagsusulit (nagbebenta) si tatay mo, yan kinakaltas. Yan diumano coupon, yan daw
ipunin at yan daw puwede makolekta at pakinabangan sa hinaharap," Ka Sita said.
(My father and mother were among those who were taxed the coco levy. I was small
then, there was a drawer in one of our old cabinets filled with green coco receipts. My
mother told me that it was deducted from my father's sales. Those coupons, she said,
should be collected because we could get something in return in the future.)

Coco levy: The past that never sleeps

The coco levy refers to the taxes imposed on coconut farmers from 1971 to 1983 by
Marcos and his cronies, promising the development of coconut farmers and the industry
in exchange.

Cojuangco at the time was appointed chairman of the board of the Philippine Coconut
Authority, tasked to collect and manage the funds.

According to the Philippine Commission on Good Government, the initial tax imposed
was 55 centavos – the value of which was high in the 1970s – for the first domestic sale
of every 100 kilos of copra or its equivalent.

COCO LEVY. Aling Rosing has kept these receipts of taxes deducted on her husband's
products. Photo by Camille Elemia/Rappler

Upon the collection by the PCA of the initial P100 million, they established the Coconut
Investment Fund (CIF), a capital stock subscribed to by the government for, and in
behalf of, the coconut farmers.

The taxes imposed grew as years went by, reaching P100 per 100 kilos. The
collections, amounting to P9.7 billion, were used by Marcos and his cronies to set up or
invest in businesses for their own benefit.
This was also used to acquire two huge blocks of shares in the biggest food and
beverage conglomerate in the country, San Miguel Corporation. (READ: The San
Miguel-coco levy saga)

Coconut Industry Reform Movement (COIR) director Joey Faustino said stock
certificates of the companies were distributed to 1.4 million individual names of coconut
farmers, like Aling Rosing, to "make it appear that coconut farmers owned them.”

“While the farmers were issued 4 to 60 shares each, the cronies carried tens of millions
of shares in their own individual names and their dummy companies. The farmers never
even knew they were robbed of billions of pesos,” Faustino said.

At present, the PCGG said there is a total of P93 billion in coco levy assets. But the real
value of total assets is more than this, as some are still under litigation.

Gold for the rich, crumbs for the poor

Despite the billions of pesos they technically own, coconut farmers continue to be
among the country’s poorest of the poor.

A coconut farmer can be considered lucky if he or she has his or her own land to till. But
for the majority, this is a far-fetched dream. The common rule is 60-40 – 60% of income
goes to landowners while 40% goes to tenants.

Prices of copra are dictated by the market. Sometimes copra prices could go as low as
P6 per kilo and, on rare occasions, as high as P60 per kilo.

At present, the price of copra is pegged at P35 to P40 a kilo. If a farmer gets to sell 100
kilos, he could get as much as P4,000 but P2,400 will go to his landowner and he will be
left with P1,600.

But before he could take this home, he has to pay coconut pickers if he is not strong
enough to do so, fruit collectors, coconut husk removers, and haulers. These could
amount to P200. The remaining amount – P1,400 – has to be shared by co-tenants,
usually 3 to 4 persons, leaving each with little to no money left to raise a family.

"On the average, karanasan namin noon, tanda ko pag nagsimula magcopra ang tatay
kasama ang mga kasagpo ay ano e, halos breakeven or kung may matira kaunting
kaunti lang. Sapat lang na konting bigas kasi habang nagko-copra, nangungutang na sa
pinadadalhan ng copra," Ka Sita said.

(On the average, in our experience then, I remember when my father started making
copra with his co-tenants. After he sold them it was just breakeven or if there was
something left, it was just enough to buy rice. Because while you're making copra, you
already borrow money from the buyer.)

"Mas mahirap mag-copra, lulutuin mo pa yun, lulukarin mo, sa tabi ng kalye ang sulitan,
kaya kaunti na lang natitira. Kami’y tenants lang, ilan kami magkakapartida, 3 o 4, e di
hati pa roon. Hindi sasapat," Mang Ruben shared.

(It's more difficult to make copra because you have to cook it, you have to get the meat.
The selling station is far, it's beside the road, that's why very little is left for us.)

"Sisenta-kwarenta. 60-40 ang hatian. Maliit na lang napagkakasya namin kaya kami'y
nag-aalagang baboy, saka kabayo at kalabaw," Aling Rosing said. (The sharing scheme
is 60% and 40%. We make do with the little that we get. We also raise pigs, we used to
have many of them before, horses, and carabaos.)

Of their total tax payments, Aling Rosing has received only a sum of P10,150 from coco
levy companies.

She received P150 when she claimed the equivalent of her shares – pegged at P1 per
share – as shown in the stock certificates.
BLOOD AND TEARS. Aling Rosing and her husband Remigio worked almost all their
life as coconut farmers. Remigio died in 2013, even before the Supreme Court upheld
its decision on coco levy.

Her husband Remigio had to die before they could get something from Cocolife. Aling
Rosing got a measly sum of P10,000 from the insurance of her husband who died at 83.

Despite this, she is still considered lucky. Ka Sita, Mang Ruben, and other farmers
didn’t get anything because Cocolife said their deceased fathers, mothers, wives, or
husbands are not in the so-called “master list” of coconut farmers who paid levies.

Time’s running out

More than two years since the Supreme Court upheld its decision saying 24% of SMC
stocks (now amounting to P74 billion) belong to the public, the funds remain unused by
the farmers as originally intended. Many have died waiting in vain.

Ka Sita could not help but turn emotional, as she remembered colleagues and families
who already left them.

“Nanghihinayang ako at nalulungkot 'di nila naranasan yung ginhawa sana kung
mayroong ginhawa na maaasahan. Sana kung maipamahagi sa taon na ito, sana buhay
pa sila kasi kasama sila sa naghirap. Ganoon din magulang ko at iba pang magsasaka
sa buong Pilipinas," she said.

(I feel so sorry and sad that they were not able to experience the comfort and
convenience, if indeed there is something to be expected. I wish, if there is anything
distributed this year, they would still be alive because they also worked hard for it, just
like my parents and the other coconut farmers in the Philippines.)

It has been a promise of past and present administrations. Will it finally happen under
the Duterte government? President Rodrigo Duterte promised to return the funds to
coconut farmers but a law is still needed to make this possible.

At present, a coconut levy trust fund bill is pending in the 17th Congress. In the 16th
Congress, it passed in the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate.

Faustino said Cojuangco, former ambassador and founder of a national political party,
continues to exert influence among politicians.

But the farmers haven't lost hope. Time, however, is no longer on their side.
“Inaasahan ko. 'Pag talagang biyaya ng Panginoon ay idadating sa amin, ibibigay.
Naasa rin naman ako na may dadating. Kung wala, siguro’y hanggang sa mamatay na
lang ako wala na,” Aling Rosing said.

(I am hoping. If it's the will of God, I know it would be sent to us. I am expecting it will
come. If not, then maybe until the day I die, we would not get it.) – Rappler.com

READ: Part 2: The politics of the coco levy scam: From Marcos to Noynoy Aquino

READ: Part 3: Return coco levy to farmers? Duterte's promise and political will
Filed under:Danding CojuangcoDuterteEduardo Cojuangco JrPCAPhilippine Coconut
AuthorityQuezonRodrigo Duterteagriculturecoco levy trust fund billcoconut
farmerscoconut industrycoconut levycoconut levy trust fundcoco levy
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PHILIPPINES
Recto hit for 'excluding' coconut farmers from coco levy bill

'Pera na nga namin, maglo-lobby pa kami? Pera na nga namin, makikiusap pa kami?'
says Ed Mora, lead convenor of the Kilusang Magniniyog, on the need for congressional
approval before use of coco levy funds

Camille Elemia
@CamilleElemia
Published 8:15 AM, March 13, 2018
Updated 8:19 AM, March 13, 2018
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COCO LEVY. Around 130 coconut farmers troop to the Senate to oppose the passage
of the Recto version of the coco levy bill but to no avail. Photo by Camille
Elemia/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – At least 130 coconut farmers from the Kilusang Magniniyog
trooped to the Senate on Monday, March 12, to oppose Senate President Pro-Tempore
Ralph Recto’s amendments to the coco levy trust fund bill, but to no avail.

In the end, the Senate approved on 2nd reading Recto’s version of the measure, which
rejected the original proposal to create a Trust Fund Committee under the Office of the
President, which former senator Wigberto Tañada called the “soul” of the measure.
Recto said creating another committee would “bloat the bureaucracy" and delay the
process.

This body would have granted farmers a bigger role in managing the P76-billion coco
levy fund, together with government officials. The coco levy refers to the tax imposed on
farmers under the Marcos administration but which was used to buy and invest in
businesses of the late dictator's cronies. (READ: Coco levy fund scam: Gold for the
corrupt, crumbs for farmers)

Voting 12-3, the chamber accepted Recto’s amendment to consolidate everything under
the Philippine Coconut Authority.
"I said that if an industry is in crisis, efforts to revive it must be quick and massive. If the
patient is in ICU, then the treatment must be immediate and in adequate dosage, so
that the recovery will be fast," Recto said.

Under Recto’s amendment, the PCA Board would be expanded from the current 7 to 11
members – 6 coconut farmers’ representatives and 5 government officials. Just like the
Trust Fund Committee, the Board would also have the power to create the roadmap for
the industry, as well as approve the sale of other coco levy assets.

Aside from Recto, the other 11 senators who voted for his amendment are the following:

1. Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III

2. Cynthia Villar
3. Nancy Binay
4. Manny Pacquiao
5. Vicente Sotto III
6. Sherwin Gatchalian
7. Joel Villanueva
8. Panfilo Lacson
9. JV Ejercito
10. Richard Gordon
11. Miguel Zubiri

The 3 who opposed it were Senator Francis Pangilinan, sponsor of the measure,
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, and Senator Risa Hontiveros.

Farmers are against the PCA becoming the central authority, citing the involvement of
the agency itself in the coco levy scam. They also said that because the PCA is
“overburdened”, it would be hard for it to focus on the complexity of the coco levy funds.

Second amendment

On the surface, Recto’s PCA amendment is similar to the farmers-backed proposal. But
it is not.

Here is where the second amendment comes in. The Senate adopted Recto’s proposal
to make the funds subject to congressional approval for “transparency, citing the misuse
of off-budget funds such as Malampaya and the Road Board. This would be done by
including the coco levy funds in the General Appropriations Act or the national budget.

This means that even if the PCA Board approves a roadmap, it is still up to Congress to
enact a budget to fund it – which farmers strongly opposed. After all, it is their money to
begin with, they said, citing the 2014 Supreme Court ruling.
To counter the transparency argument, Pangilinan said that even if the funds are
included in the special fund, Congress still has oversight functions over it. But in the
end, 9 senators voted in favor of the amendment while 5 rejected it.

"Tulad ng sinabi ko kay Senator Recto noong lumapit, di kami nanalo doon sa
inaasahan namin... Pera na nga namin, maglo-lobby pa kami? Pera na nga namin,
makikiusap pa kami? Ano ba naman yung [Trust Fund] committee na lang sana ginawa
para ibigay yun... nandoon naman ang gobyerno sa loob para mag-alalay sa
magsasaka,” Ed Mora, lead convenor of KM, told Rappler.

(Like what I told Senator Recto when he approached us, we did not win this... It's our
money, why do we have to lobby for it? It's our money, do we have to ask Congress for
it? They should have approved the Trust Fund committee since there is also
government presence there to help us farmers.)

“Sa totoo hindi kami plastic, masakit talaga sa amin 'yun. Ang pondong ito ay di kusang
lumitaw para ibigay sa pondo kundi pinagsikapan ito ng magsasakang nagpro-proseso
ng pag-kopra, hanggang sa paglalanggas, nabawasan ng buwis kaya nakaipon ng
bilyong piso. Iyon talaga ay galing sa magsasaka... Ang nangyayari ngayon di gustong
pasalihin ang magsasaka…Ang nakakalungkot doon, pilit lang gumawa ng isang
puwesto para ipasok kami... Ang totoo na-echepwera kami sa labanan na 'yun. Mano
bang sana sinubukan nila na kami ay pakinggan sa usapin ng aming gustong batas,”
Mora said.

(In truth, we are not pretentious, it really hurts us. This fund did not appear in an instant
just to be given to government. This was the product of hard work of coconut farmers,
who were taxed that's why we have this billions of pesos now. It really came from the
farmers...What's happening now is they don't want to include the farmers...What's
saddening there is that they are creating space just for them to be able to say we have
a role...The truth is, we were excluded from that fight. They should have tried to listen to
us in discussions about our preferred law.)

The 9 who voted for inclusion of the funds in the GAA are the following:

1. Recto
2. Pimentel
3. Binay
4. Ejercito
5. Gatchalian
6. Gordon
7. Villar
8. Sotto
9. Zubiri

The 5 who voted to keep the fund strictly for coconut farmers were:
 1. Drilon
2. Pangilinan
3. Hontiveros
4. Lacson
5. Senator Grace Poe

Former senator Wigberto Tañada, for his part, was disappointed but said he would
rather focus on the positive – that the bill is moving forward. The House of
Representatives already approved a similar measure in 2017.

“Well [watered down] in so far as the removal of the trust fund committee is
concerned dahil gusto namin ma-retain [yun] (because we would have wanted it
retained),” Tañada said.

"It's good that it was approved on 2nd reading. Although there were amendments that
were not acceptable for us, the bill will still go through the bicameral conference
committee of the Senate and the House. Our coconut farmers have long waited for this,
almost 40 years now...At least we have moved forward," he added in a mix of Filipino
and English.

The Senate is expected to pass the measure on final reading next week. After this, both
chambers are set to convene a bicameral conference committee to thresh out
differences between their versions. It is expected to be bloody, considering the huge
discrepancies between the two versions. – Rappler.com

Source : https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/158066-coco-levy-fund-scam-
coconut-farmers-quezon