PRESCRIBING A SYSTEM OF FINANCING THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAM FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COCONUT FARMERS AND ACCORDINGLY AMENDING THE LAWS THEREIN.

WHEREAS, on 10 September 1981, the Philippine Coconut
Authority, in implementation of a Cabinet decision, suspended the collection of
the Coconut Consumers Stabilization Fund levy, the Coconut Industry Development
Fund levy, and the assessments on exporters of coconut products, all as
authorized by PD 1468 and PD 1699;

WHEREAS, the suspension of he collections thereof triggered
a sharp decline of the prices of coconut products in the world market and has
been translated by market forces into a severe depression of copra farmgate
prices to the extreme prejudice of the coconut farmers;

WHEREAS, the drastic decline of prices and the uncertainties
of the situation have wrought havoc on the lives of more than sixteen million
Filipinos who are directly or indirectly dependent for their source o9f
livelihood on the coconut industry;

WHEREAS, the abrupt termination of the adequate and
continuous source of financing of the different socio-economic and developmental
projects for the benefit of the coconut farmers, such as the replanting, free
insurance, scholarship and coconut industry rationalization program, have
created serious doubts in the minds of the beneficiaries as to the sincerity of
the Government in promoting their welfare;

WHEREAS, there is now a real and imminent explosive
atmosphere in the coconut industry which is being seized upon by the subversives
and other elements of society as a potent weapon to erode and destroy the
confidence of the citizenry in the Government; and

WHEREAS, the Philippine Coconut Producers Federation, the
only recognized association of coconut farmers composed of 964,496 members
throughout the country, in a formal convention passed a resolution urgently
requesting the President to immediately exercise his legislative powers pursuant
to Amendment No. 6 of the 1973 Constitution, considering that the Batasang
Pambansa is not in session and the daily deteriorating situation in the coconut
industry has resulted in practically total stagnation and immobility since there
is virtually no purchase by any of the usual brokers and dealers nor by the
millers and exporters;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by the
Constitution and the laws, do hereby decree and order the following:

SECTION 1. Section 1 and 2, Article III, of Presidential
Decree No. 1468, are hereby substituted with the following:

“SECTION 1. Coconut Industry Stabilization Fund. —
To ensure the viability and the stability of the coconut industry as a whole,
the copra exporters, the oil millers, the refiners, the desiccators and other
and-users of copra or its equivalent in other coconut products are hereby
assessed an amount equivalent to P50.00 for every 100 kilos of copra resecada or
its equivalent in other coconut products delivered to, and/or purchased by, them
which assessments are hereby constituted as the Coconut Industry Stabilization
Fund. The assessments shall be collected and disbursed by the Authority as
herein prescribed.”

“SECTION 2. The collections of the Coconut Industry
Stabilization Fund shall be utilized for, and the assessment of P50.00 per one
hundred kilos of copra resecada or its equivalent in coconut products shall be
proportionately allocated among, the following socio-economic and developmental
programs for the benefit of the coconut farmers, in particular, and the coconut
industry, as a whole:

1. P20.00 — To finance the cost of the coconut hybrid re-planting program and,
   as such shall be paid by the Authority to the Coconut Industry Development Fund;

2. P40.00 — To defray the cost of the scholarship program for the deserving and
   gifted children of the coconut farmers which amount shall be paid to the
   federation of the coconut farmers, the Philippine Coconut Producers Federation;
3. P12.50 — To defray the cost of the life and accident insurance on the lives
   of the coconut farmers which amount the Authority shall pay to the bank acquired
   for the benefit of the coconut farmers under PD 755 which, in turn, shall
   utilize the amount to pay the required premium to the insurance company owned by
   the coconut farmers;
4. P3.00 — To defray the operating expenses of the Philippine Coconut Producers
   Federation;
5. P20.00 — To defray part of the operating expenses of the Philippine Coconut
   Authority; and
6. P 8.50 — To defray the costs of the coconut industry rationalization program
   envisioned and prescribed by LOI 926, the provisions of which are hereby
   incorporated as part hereof, which shall be paid to, and utilized by, the bank
   acquired for the benefit of the coconut farmers under PD 755 to liquidate the
   liabilities of coconut oil mills/refineries, whose operations have been stopped
   to effect the rationalization program, to creditors that have agreed to a the
   guidelines prescribed by LOI 926; Provided, however, that the amount
   allocated for this purpose shall be collected for a maximum period of five (5)
   years and thereafter, the assessment fixed in Section 1 hereof shall be
   automatically reduced to the amount of P41.50 for every one hundred kilos of
   copra resecada or its equivalent in other coconut products.”

SECTION 2. Sub-paragraph (a) of Section 3, Article III, of
Presidential Decree No. 1468, is hereby deleted.

SECTION 3. Section 4, Article III, of Presidential Decree
No. 1468, is hereby amended to read as follows:

“SECTION 4. Financing of the Coconut Industry
Development Fund. — As the initial funds of the Coconut Industry
Development Fund, the Authority is hereby directed to pay to the Coconut
Industry Development Fund, the amount of the Hundred Million Pesos
(P100,000,000.00) out of the Coconut Consumers Stabilization Fund. Hereafter,
the Coconut Industry Development Fund shall be financed from out of the
collections of the Coconut Industry Stabilization Fund as prescribed in Section
2 hereof.

The sale or transfer of the hybrid coconut seednuts herein authorized to be
acquired is hereby declared exempt from the payment of the coconut consumers
stabilization levy and the assessments herein imposed and any and all the taxes
fees of whatever kind and nature.”

SECTION 4. A new Section 11 is hereby inserted in Article
III of Presidential Decree No. 1486 to read as follows:

“SECTION 11. Financing of other Socio-Economic and
Developmental Projects. — The members of the coconut industry, particularly
the commercial and industrial sectors thereof may, if they so desire, establish
a system of financing the socio-economic and/or developmental projects for the
coconut industry in addition to Section 1 hereof under such terms and conditions
as they may freely negotiate and agree upon which are hereby declared to
constitute an onerous contract enforceable according to its terms. Upon
certification by the bank acquired for the benefit of the coconut farmers under
PD 755 that the incorporated cooperative endeavor and the participating mills
prescribed by LOI 926 are participating in such a financing system, the
contributions to that financing system are hereby declared, notwithstanding any
general or special law or regulation to the contrary, to be ordinary and
carrying on the respective businesses of the contributors relating to the
coconut industry, deductible in full as an express for income tax
purposes.”

SECTION 5. Hereafter, the words “levy”, “levies” and “
Coconut Consumers Stabilization Fund” in PD 1468 shall, if the context so
requires, be substituted with the word “assessment”, “assessments” and “Coconut
Industry Stabilization Fund, respectively.

SECTION 6. All provisions of PD 1468 which are not hereby
specifically amended shall remain in full force and effect. All laws, including
PD 1699, executive and administrative orders, rules and regulations relating to
the imposition, collection and utilization of the Coconut Consumer Stabilization
Fund levy inconsistent with the provisions of this Decree are hereby repealed or
amended accordingly; Provided, however, that the repeal and/or
amendments herein prescribed shall operate prospectively.

SECTION 7. If any provision of this Decree is held
unconstitutional, the same shall apply only to that provision and the other
provisions shall remain valid.

SECTION 8. This Decree shall take effect immediately.

Done in the City of Manila, this 2nd day of October, in the year of Our Lord,
nineteen hundred and eighty-one.

			(Sgd.) FERDINAND E. MARCOS President of the Philippines
	By the President:
	(Sgd.) JOAQUIN T. VENUS, JR.
		Deputy Presidential Executive Assistant

 

Vital Documents Presidetial Decree 1980-1981 vol. 25