(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, July 23, urged Congress to pass a bill establishing a trust fund for coconut farmers “at the soonest possible time.”
“Our coconut farmers form a significant part of the basic sectors of our society. It is by the toil of their hands that we put food on the table,” he said.
In March, the Senate passed on third and final reading a measure that would create the trust fund.
Under Senate Bill No. (SBN) 1233, the government would “consolidate the benefits due to coconut farmers, especially the poor and marginalized, under various statutes and to expedite the delivery thereof, to attain increased farm productivity and income of coconut farmers through the rehabilitation and modernization of the coconut industry.”
The House of Representatives, for its part, passed on third reading a version in September 2017.
A bicameral conference had not been scheduled as May.