Coconut farmers plan protest march to Manila

2014.7.1

 

DAVAO CITY -- Coconut farmers are planning to hold a protest walk to Manila in September to pressure the government to act on their demand to establish a Farmers’ Bank in Mindanao and a Coconut Industry Trust Fund.

 

 

“Farmers from Governor Generoso, Davao Oriental will be walking all the way to Manila to stage the protest. They will consume only coconut water and meat. All the demands are non-negotiable,” said Jerry V. dela Cerna, a convenor of the Davao Coconut Farmers Regional Consultative group.

 

Back in April, the group called on the government to establish a Farmers’ Bank in Mindanao within the year to protect farmers’ interests in the shadow of the planned recapitalization of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB).

 

The farmers, despite having a 74% equity share in UCPB, remain marginalized, they said. They suggest the conversion of the existing United Savings Bank, a subsidiary of UCPB, into a Coconut Farmers’ Bank before the UCPB’s recapitalization.

 

The planned recapitalization will dilute the farmers’s current 74% share in the bank to only 20%, said Charles R. Avila, executive director of the Coconut Farmers Organizations of the Philippines and former administrator of the Philippine Coconut Authority.

 

Mr. Avila explained that the farmers do not demand the withdrawal of their shares in UCPB but want the return of the 1% fee taken by the Presidential Commission on Good Government “as a result of an aborted compromise agreement between the bank and San Miguel 27 years ago which now translates to 27 million shares amounting to P4.4 billion plus dividends worth P800 million.”

 

The farmers are also demanding the creation of a law that will establish a Coconut Industry Trust Fund, to be managed by the Philippine Coconut Farmers’ Foundation. -- Carmencita A. Carillo

 

 

 

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