DEPDev backs coco trust fund budget flexibility

THE Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said it supported proposed amendments to the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act that will expand the flexibility of its budget allocations.

At  the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food, and Agrarian Reform hearing on amending the Republic Act No. 11524, Director Rory Jay S.C. Dacumos highlighted the need for flexible allocations for the coconut farming agencies.

“We are supportive of, as mentioned in several statements, the removal of the fixed allocations,” Mr. Dacumos said. “There has to be a provision to allow the flexibility depending on the actual need of the farmers on how to disburse the trust fund.”

The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) also lobbied for the removal of the fixed-percentage allocation scheme in the trust fund.

The coconut farmers and industry development plan, a feature of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act, specifies percentage allocations for 16 implementing agencies.

Dexter R. Buted, PCA administrator and chief executive officer, said the PCA needs funding to plant about 100 million coconut trees, a target set for it by the administration.

“For us to realize the 100 million coconut palm, we need a budget… we need to plant at least 25.3 million until 2028,” Mr. Buted said.

According to Mr. Buted, a legal opinion was solicited from the Department of Justice to use the unused portion of the P1.8-billion PCA hybridization fund for the coconut tree-planting program, but the funds to be repurposed are not enough. — Kaela Patricia B. Gabriel