December 14, 2020 | 7:28 pm Font Size
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THE House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading the bill creating the coconut levy trust fund.
With 221 affirmative votes, six negatives, and zero abstentions, legislators passed House Bill No. 8136, the proposed Coconut Farmers and Development Trust Fund Act. The measure seeks to mobilize coconut levy funds collected decades ago into programs designed to rehabilitate and modernize the coconut industry.
The levy, billed during the Marcos administration as a means of investing in the industry’s development, but actually redirected to purchase stakes in San Miguel Corp. and United Coconut Planters Bank, is now valued at around P76 billion.