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Duterte, Cayetano to distribute P80-billion coco levy fund to farmers in a month if elected

Unknown 4:20 PM Cayetano , Coco , distribute , Duterte , Elected , farmers , fund , levy , month , P80billion

• The tandem of Mayor Duterte and Senator Cayetano vows to distribute the coco levy fund to the coconut farmers within one month if elected • They said the return of the money to the coconut farmers is long overdue • Duterte said failure to return the money to the farmers is tantamount to estafa Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his running mate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano vow distribution of P80-billion coco levy funds to small coconut farmers if they win in the upcoming elections in May 9. Yuji Vincent Gonzales of <a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/773087/duterte-cayetano-vow-to-distribute-coco-levy-fund-in-a-moth-if-elected">Inquirer</a> said the pair promises to do the distribution of the fund in just a month should they win in the elections. Mayor Duterte, the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) presidential candidate, said: “All it takes is political will. The Supreme Court already decided to return the fund to the farmers. Thus, if elected, in just the first month of our term, Alan and I will immediately give the fund back to the coconut farmers. Failure to do so is tantamount to estafa.” The return of the money to the coconut farmers is long overdue, Duterte said. GMA News said in an article published in 2012 that the coco levy fund started in the 1970s during the administration of President Ferdinand E. Marcos. President Marcos decided to tax millions of coconut farmers; promising them the money will be used to develop the coconut industry. But according to a lawyer of coconut farmers, it was Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco who benefited from the coco levy fund. The lawyer of the Coalition of Coconut Farmers in Quezon said the proceeds from the levy was used to buy the United Coconut Planters bank (UCPB) which would give farmers shares instead of money, but it was alleged that Cojuangco, then a UCPB director, used the proceeds from the fund to acquire a significant stake in food and beverage giant San Miguel Corporation. “Cojuangco effectively got himself rich with the coco levy funds,” the lawyer said. In a recent press conference in Quezon, Senator Grace Poe said Danding Cojuangco should not be blamed for the delay in the distribution of the coco levy fund; saying the businessman does not control it anymore. She said the shares bought using the coco levy funds are now in government control. The camp of Mayor Duterte accused Poe as being Cojuangco’s “puppet” after she defended the businessman over the controversial coco levy fund. <a href="http://kickerdaily.com/duterte-cayetano-to-distribute-p80-billion-coco-levy-fund-to-farmers-in-a-month-if-elected/" rel="nofollow">Kicker Daily News</a>

• The tandem of Mayor Duterte and Senator Cayetano vows to distribute the coco levy fund to the coconut farmers within one month if elected ...