'Tragedy,' says coconut farmers group on SC junking of coco levy case

A group of coconut farmers and advocates on Thursday expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court (SC) decision junking the graft charges filed against former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and several other personalities involved in the alleged misuse of the P840 million Coconut Industry Development Fund (CIDF) or coco levy funds.

“Nasaan ang hustisya? Nasaan ang katarungan?” said Coconut Industry Reform Movement (CIRM) adviser Joey Faustino in Sandra Aguinaldo’s report on “24 Oras."

“This is a tragedy sa ngalan ng hustisya dito sa ating bansa..Sino ang aasahan mo na mag-apela nitong mga kasong ito? Dahil kasalukuyang nasa administrasyon ‘yung mga taong involved dito,” Faustino added.

On Wednesday, the SC released a January 16 promulgation dismissing the complaint filed against Enrile, now the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, Jose Concepcion, Rolando dela Cuesta, Narciso Pineda, and Danila Urusa due to violation of their right to speedy disposition of cases.

The Court said there was a “clear violation” of the respondents' right to a speedy disposition of cases when the government "failed to provide sufficient justification for the delay in the termination of the preliminary investigation."

Further, the Court also dismissed the complaint against Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., Jose Eleazar Jr., Maria Clara Lobregat, and Augusto Orosa due to their supervising deaths.

According to Faustino, erring personalities should be held liable for how the taxes were used by private entities during the administration of late President Ferdinand Marcos.

“Paanong nangyari na ang isang buwis, taxes ay nalipat sa pribadong bulsa? Ayon na rin sa SC in the early 2000, sinabi niya ang taxes ay hindi pwedeng malipat sa kanino man pribadong bulsa maging ito man ay tao o juridical entity,” he said.

But Enrile said the former government invested the fund for the needs of the coconut farmers.

“Alam mo ba yung coco levy na kinolekta namin, P9.7 billion yun, ang P7.2b noon ay ginamit sa coconut-based consumer product na binili ng mga publiko dahil binigyan ni Presidente Marcos ng subsidy ‘yang mga produkto na yan dahil sa scarcity ng coconut oil noong araw,” he said.

“‘Yung naiwan na P2.5B cash ginawa namin ng United Coconut Planters Bank, binili namin ‘yung mga oil mills sapagkat nalulugi sila at ibinili ng San Miguel shares,” Enrile added.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which was created after the ouster of Marcos, confiscated the assets of their cronies including the controversial coco levy fund which is believed to amount to P75 billion.

Ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, during his term, signed a law establishing a coconut farmers and industry trust fund and issued an executive order for a coconut farmers and industry development plan for the proper utilization of the budget for the sector.

However, several groups questioned the lack of representation of farmers in the decision-making process related to the funds.—Sundy Locus/LDF, GMA Integrated News