Duterte appoints ex-PAF chief chair of Philippine Coconut Authority

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said that he is tapping former Air Force chief Lieutenant General Galileo Gerard Kintanar as the head of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

Duterte made the announcement during the change of command ceremony of the Philippine Air Force at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City where Kintanar turned over the reins of the PAF to Lieutenant General Rozzano Briguez.

The President also confirmed that he had asked the PCA board members resign to give way for the reorganization of the agency, which he said has been historically "plagued by corruption."

He said he needed someone who will make sure that the coco levy funds will not go to waste.

"I do not know General Kintanar but I choose him to be the chairman of that [PCA] board," Duterte said in his speech.

Duterte, however, said it might be "impossible" to trace the beneficiaries and to determine "whether or not they were really legitimate tenants or just an ordinary guy there in the barangay working for some odd jobs in places where coconut industry was thriving." 

Under the proposed Coco Levy Act, the P100-billion in coco levy funds shall be managed by the reconstituted PCA which shall be composed of a representative from the PCA, the Department of Finance, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Budget and Management, as well as a coconut industry stakeholder and six coconut farmers—two each from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The PCA is chaired by the Agriculture secretary and vice-chaired by its administrator with four board members.

Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol earlier said the current officials of the PCA shall work until such time the President appoints new officers.

Coco levy was imposed on coconut farmers from 1973 to 1982. However, the farmers reportedly did not benefit from their contribution because it was used to prop up the businesses of allies of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos.

SC rulings indicate that the funds were used to buy shares of stock in the United Coconut Planters Bank and diversifying conglomerate San Miguel Corporation.

A separate decision in 2011, however, said businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr.'s 20-percent equity in SMC was legally acquired, denying the government’s claim that it was also acquired through coco levy funds. —NB, GMA News