By Charissa Luci-Atienza
AAMBIS-OWA party-list Rep. Sharon Garin is seeing the smooth sailing of the approval next week of a substitute bill seeking the creation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund.
Deputy Speaker and AAMBIS-OWWA partylist Rep. Sharon Garin (Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
The chairman of the technical working group (TWG) that consolidated 16 coconut levy fund bills said the passage of the long-overdue measure could be the House committee on food and agriculture's post-Valentine's gift to coconut farmers.
"It could have been a Christmas gift, but it was delayed. I hope we could give it as a post-Valentine's gift for our farmers," Garin said in a phone interview.
The House leader expressed her hope that the House committee on food and agriculture, chaired by Quezon Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga, will approve the TWG report on the measure.
"They are scheduled to approve the TWG report. Remember there were various versions, we consolidated them and made our own changes as well. Let us see how the committee will act on the report, if they take it as is, I hope they will," she said.
Garin said the controversial provisions that prodded President Duterte to veto the pro-farmers' measure in February last year have been scrapped.
"We have coordinated with the executive and concerned stakeholders. We have been very conscious of the provisions vetoed by the President," she said.
"I don't think the deliberations will take longer. The measure has been approved in last two Congresses. I think the House has always been in the direction of giving back to its rightful owners and beneficiaries."
The Enverga panel is set to tackle and approve the pro-farmers' bill on Tuesday (Feb. 18).
Enverga, one of the principal authors of the bill, said he was optimistic that the substitute bill and a corresponding committee report will be approved next week.
He said after his panel approves the measure, he expects that House leadership will immediately calendar the bill for plenary debates and approval, considering that it is a priority measure of President Duterte and the Lower Chamber.
"If so approved, it will depend on the committee on rules. But, given that this is a priority of President R. Duterte and Speaker Allan Cayetano, it would definitely be immediately scheduled," he said.
The House leader earlier assured the public that his panel will pass an "acceptable" measure that aims to address the veto message of President Duterte and the concerns of all stakeholders.
In a letter addressed to the House of Representatives on Feb. 14 last year, President Duterte said the coco levy fund bill, which seeks the creation of a P100-billion trust fund for coconut farmers, "may be violative of the Constitution and is lacking in vital safeguards to avoid the repetition of painful mistakes committed in the past."
The Chief Executive said the creation of an “effectively perpetual” trust fund is in violation of a constitutional provision that provides that money collected from tax levied for a special purpose shall be treated as a special fund and paid out for such purpose only, referring to Article IV Section 29(3) of the 1987 Constitution.
The President also opposed the broad powers given to the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), particularly its authority over the sale, disposition, or dissolution of coco levy assets.
Cayetano, one of the principal authors of the bill, earlier said the passage of the coco levy fund bill would be the Lower Chamber's "expression of solidarity with the coconut farmers and their loved ones."
"Now is the season for them to truly feel the assistance of a government that will bring bold solutions and swift actions for genuine change,” he said.
The Bureau of Treasury reported to the Enverga panel that as of July 2019, the coco levy fund is pegged at almost P76.4 billion, while the coconut levy assets are worth P300 billion, according to Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Commissioner Reynold Munsayac.