Press Release
March 30, 2008

PALACE SHOULD NOT MAKE FALSE PROMISES IN ALLEVIATING PLIGHT OF POOR AMID RICE, OIL CRISIS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today cautioned Malacañang against creating false expectations in alleviating the plight of the poor by promising to distribute subsidy coupons that will tide them over present difficulties aggravated by the rising prices of rice, oil and other essential commodities.

Pimentel expressed concern that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is just making an empty promise by announcing a plan to tap the proceeds of the government's earnings from the Malampaya natural gas and the P130 billion coconut levy funds to bankroll the subsidy coupons.

He said that while the President may be motivated by good intention for unveiling the amelioration scheme for poor, there is a lot of skepticism whether the government can really pursue it because of questions over funding.

"Is the plan implementable as envisioned? Have they taken into account the restrictions by law that will prevent the government from using such funds for the subsidy coupons? A good intention will be a good program only if done within the law. But if it is not, then something is wrong with it," the minority leader said.

Pimentel said it is good policy to set aside part of the government's multibillion profits from the Malampaya natural gas to fund pro-poor programs.

However, he said that if the proceeds of the Malampaya gas are really meant to benefit the poor, why has the government ignored a long-standing proposal to business and consumer sectors to lower its royalties from power produced from this indigenous source to substantially reduce the cost of electricity?

Pimentel doubted whether the government can divert the coconut levy funds invested in the San Miguel Corp. to the subsidy scheme because they are specifically intended by law to benefit the coconut industry and farmers.

Moreover, he said the coconut levy assets cannot even be touched by the government at this stage because they remain sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government due to the unresolved ill-gotten wealth cases with the Sandiganbayan.

"It is a sad commentary on the way justice is administered in this country. That money belongs to the coconut farmers. But up to now, it cannot be used for programs that will uplift their economic conditions," the senator from Mindanao lamented.

Pimentel noted that the Philippine Coconut Authority has recently asked Malacañang to allocate P1.8 billion for the rehabilitation of the ailing coconut industry but it is still unsure whether there are funds available for the purpose.

He said that if the government could not even use the levy funds for the propagation and replanting of hybrid coconuts and for alternative livelihood projects for displaced farmers, the more such funding source could not be utilized for the food and oil subsidy coupons.

The minority leader advised the Malacañang and state agencies concerned to get their acts together to speed up the resolution of the coconut levy cases which have been pending with the courts for more than 21 years now.

"It is the height of absurdity that local copra production continues to decline due to increasing number of senile coconut trees and the diminishing lands for coconut plantations and coconut farmers wallow in poverty, while the P130 billion levy funds that were squeezed out of their sweat and blood remain idle, tied up in court litigation that seems to go on endlessly," Pimentel said.

Criticizing the dismal government record in handling amelioration programs for the poor, Pimentel said billions of pesos have been allocated for the administration's "Food for School" project of the Department of Education and the food subsidy scheme of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. And yet, he said the release of funds has frequently been delayed for flimsy reasons, depriving the needy families of rice and other food subsidy.

He said this partly explains why the incidence of hunger among poor Filipino families remains acute.

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