The inter-agency body tasked to oversee and set the investment strategy of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund (CFITF) vowed to optimize the use of the coco levy fund for the benefit of the coconut farmers.
In a statement Thursday, Feb. 24, the Department of Finance (DOF) said the Trust Fund Management Committee (TFMC) has convened for its first meeting for this year last Feb. 7.
Presided by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, the meeting focused on pending issues concerning the government-owned and disputed shares in the United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corp. and the status of the reconveyance of the shares to the government.
According to the DOF, the TFMC “discussed how to efficiently and swiftly accomplish its objective of optimizing the use of the multibillion-peso coco levy fund for the benefit of the country’s coconut farmers.”
During the meeting, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) reported to the TFMC its responses to various queries from coconut farmers’ groups on the coco levy fund.
In addition, the Bureau of the Treasury, which serves as the TFMC Secretariat, reported on the income performance of the CFITF, the committee’s planned 2022 disbursement and asset allocation, and its accomplishment report for 2021.
The TFMC, composed of the DOF, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and the Department of Justice (DOJ), is an inter-agency body mandated by Republic Act (RA) No. 11524, otherwise known as the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act.
In order to fulfill the functions as secretariat, the TFMC also approved during the meeting the 2022 budget of the Treasury bureau, as TFMC Secretariat, subject to the evaluation of the pay rates of its personnel services component by the DBM.
The meeting was attended by, among others, TFMC members Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Budget OIC-Secretary Tina Rose Marie Canda; Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko; and National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon.
Also in attendance were OIC-Deputy Treasurer Eduardo Mariño III; PCGG Chairman John Agbayani; and Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) Senior Vice President Gonzalo Bongolan.
The Feb. 7 meeting was the 5th held by the TFMC since it first convened on June 17 last year.