A gaggle of coconut farmers and advocates on Thursday expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court (SC) determination junking the graft prices filed in opposition to former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and several other different personalities concerned within the alleged misuse of the P840 million Coconut Industry Development Fund (CIDF) or coco levy funds.
“Nasaan ang hustisya? Nasaan ang katarungan?” stated Coconut Industry Reform Movement (CIRM) adviser Joey Faustino in Sandra Aguinaldo’s report on “24 Oras.”
“This is a tragedy sa ngalan ng hustisya dito sa ating bansa..Sino ang aasahan mo na mag-apela nitong mga kasong ito? Dahil kasalukuyang nasa administrasyon ‘yung mga taong involved dito,” Faustino added.
On Wednesday, the SC released a January 16 promulgation dismissing the complaint filed against Enrile, now the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, Jose Concepcion, Rolando dela Cuesta, Narciso Pineda, and Danila Urusa due to violation of their right to speedy disposition of cases.
The Court said there was a “clear violation” of the respondents’ right to a speedy disposition of cases when the government “failed to supply ample justification for the delay within the termination of the preliminary investigation.”
Further, the Court additionally dismissed the criticism in opposition to Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., Jose Eleazar Jr., Maria Clara Lobregat, and Augusto Orosa on account of their supervising deaths.
According to Faustino, erring personalities needs to be held liable for the way the taxes have been utilized by personal entities in the course of the administration of late President Ferdinand Marcos.
“Paanong nangyari na ang isang buwis, taxes ay nalipat sa pribadong bulsa? Ayon na rin sa SC in the early 2000, sinabi niya ang taxes ay hindi pwedeng malipat sa kanino man pribadong bulsa maging ito man ay tao o juridical entity,” he stated.
But Enrile stated the previous authorities invested the fund for the wants of the coconut farmers.
“Alam mo ba yung coco levy na kinolekta namin, P9.7 billion yun, ang P7.2b noon ay ginamit sa coconut-based consumer product na binili ng mga publiko dahil binigyan ni Presidente Marcos ng subsidy ‘yang mga produkto na yan dahil sa scarcity ng coconut oil noong araw,” he stated.
“‘Yung naiwan na P2.5B cash ginawa namin ng United Coconut Planters Bank, binili namin ‘yung mga oil mills sapagkat nalulugi sila at ibinili ng San Miguel shares,” Enrile added.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), which was created after the ouster of Marcos, confiscated the belongings of their cronies together with the controversial coco levy fund which is believed to quantity to P75 billion.
Ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, throughout his time period, signed a legislation establishing a coconut farmers and business belief fund and issued an government order for a coconut farmers and business growth plan for the correct utilization of the price range for the sector.
However, a number of teams questioned the shortage of illustration of farmers within the decision-making course of associated to the funds.—Sundy Locus/LDF, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
