Skip to main content

Sec. Manny Pinol Clarifies the Coco Levy Fund Issue After Mass Protest by Farmers

Agriculture Secretary Manny Pinol took to Facebook to clarify the issue about the controversial coco levy funds after a mass protest by farmers were conducted and was reported on national news media outlet, Philippine Daily Inquirer.


In a news report posted by Inquirer, coconut farmers, land settlers and indigenous people started their protest caravan from Lucena City in Quezon going to the capital city of Manila on Sunday.

The protecting farmers press their demands on Pres. Rody Duterte to speed up the return of the multi-billion-peso coconut levy fund, full implementation of the government land reform program and a stop to the wave of harassment of peasants.

Sec. Manny Pinol clarified that the Supreme Court is the real culprit of the delay because of the TRO issued by Supreme Court which enjoins government from touching, releasing or distributing the Coco Levy Fund.

The Agriculture Secretary also noted that whoever is behind the mass action by farmers from Southern Luzon Region to press Pres. Duterte to fulfill his commitment to release the funds is either misinformed or misleading the poor farmers.

Here's the Complete Statement of DA Sec. Manny Pinol:

Barking up wrong tree
SUPREME COURT TRO STOPS
ACTION ON COCO LEVY FUND

By Manny Piñol

Whoever is behind the mass action by farmers from the Southern Luzon Region to press President Rody Duterte to fulfil his commitment to release the coco levy fund is either misinformed or misleading the poor farmers.

Here is the real score on the coco levy fund.

Right after his assumption to office as the 16th President, Rody Duterte started working on his commitments to the Filipino farmers.

On his instructions and despite the refusal by the top officials of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) themselves, I worked on the realisation of his Free Irrigation commitment.
It has been done with the help of the Senate and Congress who allocated P2.3-B to cover the irrigation service fees and starting 2017 there will be free irrigation.

He also instructed me to work on the immediate release and utilisation of the Coconut Levy Fund so that this would help the country's coconut farmers.

I also worked on this along with the Presidential Legislative Liaison Officer, Sec. Avelino Sitoy, and Dept. of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Sec. Rafael Mariano.

In our last meeting in Malacañang, it was made clear that even with the Presidential directive to work on the release of the Coco Levy Fund, there is a pending Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court which enjoins government from touching, releasing or disbursing the Coco Levy Fund.

This is what stops President Duterte from fulfilling his commitment to release the Coco Levy Fund.
In spite of that legal impediment, the Presidential Working Group on Coco Levy has agreed to work on the details on how to release and utilise the fund.

We the members of the Presidential Working Group agreed on this so that when the time comes when the Supreme Court finally lifts the TRO, the release and utilisation of the Coco Levy Fund could be implemented right away.

Government lawyers led by Solicitor General Jose Calida are also working hard on this because they are aware of President Duterte's commitment to the coconut farmers.

But until such time the TRO is lifted, President Duterte's hands are tied.
So there you are guys. This is the real score.

Now, unless the organisers of the march have other hidden agenda than just work for the release of the Coco Levy Funds, the best thing for them to do is support the efforts of Solgen Calida and government lawyers in convincing the Supreme Court to lift the TRO.
#Changeishere! #PresRodyCares! #DuterteDelivers!

Source: Sec. Manny Pinol

Popular posts from this blog

Tesla cloud account hacked to mine cryptocurrency

© Provided by The Hill An unidentified outside hacker infiltrated Tesla's Amazon cloud account and used its systems to quietly mine for cryptocurrencies, a cybersecurity firm announced Tuesday. The hack also potentially exposed the electric car company's data. Researchers for RedLock found that Tesla's credentials on an IT administrative console were not password protected. They made the discovery while trying to track down which organizations had left their Amazon Web Services (AWS) credentials openly exposed on the internet last month. The hackers quietly hijacked the console and began running scripts to generate virtual currency like bitcoin, the latest in a series of "cryptojacking" attacks. The researchers also found the hackers used "sophisticated evasion measures" to go undetected. A spokesperson for Tesla said the company learned about the breach in a company-sanctioned bug bounty program that pays outside hackers to discover vulnerabilitie...

Apple named ‘most innovative’ company by a magazine

© Provided by IBT US Apple has just been named as the “Most Innovative” company of 2018 by a business magazine. The reasons cited why the Cupertino giant emerged triumphant on the list included the company’s ability to design processors that are optimized for its latest hardware and software.  Fast Company published Tuesday its list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies 2018 in the consumer electronics sector and Tim Cook’s company was the one that snagged the top spot. The publication indicated in the list that the main reason why Apple ranked the highest was because it produced the “phone of the future” for today’s market.  The magazine also published a lengthy explanation on why Apple is worth the “most innovative” title this year. According to Fast Company, the Cupertino giant had a notable 2017 due to the stellar performances of the wireless AirPods and the Apple Watch Series 3 and the launch of its own AR platform, ARKit, as well as the release of the outst...

You can pay at a restaurant by smiling at a camera

© Provided by Engadget As easy as it is to make purchases in the era of tap-to-pay services , it's about to get easier still. Alipay (which handles purchases for Chinese shopping giant Alibaba) has launched what it says is the first payment system that uses facial recognition to complete the sale. If you visit one of KFC's KPRO restaurants in Hangzhou, China, you can pay for your panini or salad by smiling at a camera-equipped kiosk -- you need to verify the purchase on your phone, but you don't have to punch in digits or bring your phone up to an NFC reader. The system (Smile to Pay) is purportedly resistant to spoofing with photos and other tricks. It relies on both depth-sensing cameras and a "likeness detection algorithm" to make sure it's really you. Reportedly, the technology is good enough that it can accurately identify people even when they're disguising themselves through makeup or wigs. You shouldn't have to worry about someone buying ...