(Eagle News) — The Senate on Monday approved a bill establishing a coco levy trust fund on third and final reading.
Nineteen senators voted for Senate Bill No 1233, including Senator Francis Pangilinan, who, even then expressed his “reservations.”
Only one senator, Risa Hontiveros, voted totally against the measure.
“More than a year after we submitted SBN 1233, we are now faced with an amended version that we believe is far from what we expected,” Pangilinan said.
He noted that under the original measure, a trust fund was to be separate from government funds, and the trust committee separate from the Philippine Coconut Authority.
Under the approved measure, though, he said the trust fund would be included in the National Expenditure Program and appropriated through the General Appropriations Act.
The PCA board, he added, would also be reconstituted instead.
“Mr. President, sad to say, such prescription in Senate Bill No. 1233 removes the essence of a trust fund,” he said.
He noted, however, that “the wish of the majority in the Senate, expressed and formalized through a vote, has to be respected.”
In a statement, Hontiveros said the “insistence” in managing the fund in a specific way “without regard” for coconut farmers was tantamount to stealing from them.
Ang Coco Levy Act na sana ang magtatama sa historical injustice na dinanas ng ating mga magniniyog…I vote ‘No,’” she said.