Farmers march 1,700km, demand support from Philippine government
US$1.6-billion in taxes collected during Marcos era could help coconut farmers develop their embattled industry.
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| Archbishop Socrates Villegas talks with a farmer during a dialogue on Monday |
The farmers arrived in Manila November 21 after setting off from Mindanao’s Davao City in September — a journey they say spanned at least 1,700 kilometers, including two ferry rides.
"It was a difficult journey,” said Aurelio Umilda.
At 61, he was one of the oldest among the marchers. He said there were days when the farmers trudged along under extreme heat or heavy rains.
“My feet are already swollen,” he said, pointing at his tired extremities.
The group made the unlikely journey for a cause: to call on the government to release billions in pesos from the more than three-decade old coco levy, a controversial tax set up under the dictatorship of former president Ferdinand Marcos.
The farmers want to tap into the US$1.6-billion fund, which is being held by National Treasury and the United Coconut Planters Bank, to develop the coconut industry and coconut-based enterprises.
Marcos and his allies taxed coconut farmers in the 1970s and the early 1980s, purportedly to improve the country's coconut industry and help farmers. The government, however, used the money to buy shares in companies like the brewery giant San Miguel Corporation and United Coconut Planters Bank.
In 2012, the Philippine Supreme Court said at least US$1.6 billion of the funds belongs to farmers, who are asking the government to put the money in a trust fund. The government has so far not acted on the farmers' demands.
“The government has promised time and again that the money will be used to support farmers and the coconut industry," said Rene Cerilla, president of the National Confederation of Small Farmers and Fishers Organization. "But only a few benefited from it.”
The farmers are asking Aquino to certify as urgent pending bills in Congress to facilitate the release of the funds.
On Monday, the farmers sought the help of the country's Catholic bishops to help lobby the government to release the money.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the bishops' conference, said he would send a letter to Congress to urge legislators to act on the farmers' appeal.
"Let us also not forget the responsibilities of the government especially to the poor who are suffering," Villegas told ucanews.com.
"My fear is that our coconut farmers are, by a cruel turn of circumstances, becoming… victims of those who, in an unprincipled and un-Christian manner, exploit the defenselessness of the economically harassed," the prelate said.
He called on the government "to demonstrate its resolve at social justice" in favor of the farmers.
Fr Edu Gariguez, head of the social action secretariat of the bishops' conference, called on President Benigno Aquino to meet with the farmers.
The priest said two years have passed since the Supreme Court decided that the Marcos administration bought 24 percent of San Miguel Corporation stocks using coco levy funds.
"We expect the government to act with more urgency in reaching out to [farmers] to address this longstanding issue," the priest said, indicating that the money should be used for the benefit of coconut farmers.
"The future of coconut farmers are in limbo," said farmer Domingo Bekyan, 58. He said he can barely support his family from selling copra, or dried coconut meat, at about $4 per kilogram.
Data from the government antipoverty commission show that coconut farmers, who earn from $300 to $400 a year, are among the "poorest of the poorest" in the Philippines. At least 41 percent of coconut farmers — who number about 3.5 million in the Philippines — live below the poverty line, according to the data.
Source: ucanews.com
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