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CO-SPONSORSHIP SPEECH
SEN. RALPH G. RECTO
09 March 2015
From the Farmers to the Farmers:
Tapping Coco Levy Funds for the Industry's
Renaissance
There are two recommended ways of
authorizing the management of coconut levy
assets.
First is via the executive route, where a
factotum who cannot probably distinguish a
palmera from a coconut tree will draft an order
for the Presidents consideration.
The other is through legislation, where a bill,
like copra, is processed under the sun, and in
this age of crowdsourcing, stakeholders can
participate in its writing, as had been done on
the bill at hand
Not only is the latter more consultative, its
product a republic act is also more durable.
heed.
If prudent stewardship of funds is the thrust of
this bill, then the best person who can tell us
how it is done is a lady from whom her
billionaire husband gets his weekly allowance.
Mr. President:
We live in a country under a canopy of coconut
trees.
68 out of 81 provinces, 2 out of three towns
grow coconut in some 3.5 million hectares
which are cultivated by 3.4 million farmers.
One hectare in every four is planted to
coconuts.
There are 34 coconut trees for every Filipino.
From that versatile tree we get a wide array of
products from the oil we use to fry our food,
the liquor that our alcohol-proof friends love to
drink, even the diesel which runs our cars is
blended with biodiesel.
present worth.
Mr. President:
I will not propose amendments to this bill.
With your indulgence, however, let me air my
observations about this measure, for your
consideration.
So that when the trust fund committee
convenes as a fund-dispensing machine, and
they will refer to the transcript of our debates, to
discover what the legislative intent was behind
the prose of the law, this will also serve as my
memo to them.
First, let us increase the transparency quotient
of this proposed law.
We can require that trust committee spending
and the status of the trust be reported out in
detail in the annual Budget of Expenditures and
Sources of Financing (BESF) for reportorial
purposes.
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