02/02/2013 (Business Mirror) - Farmers belonging to the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and the claimants movement Coco Levy Fund Ibalik sa Amin (CLAIM) on Sunday added their voices to calls for a congressional inquiry into the reported importation and selling of palm-based cooking oil by a sequestered oil mill.

The groups support Rep. Danilo Suarez of Quezon province, who exposed the alleged “anomalous selling and importation” of palm-based cooking oil by San Pablo Manufacturing Corp. (SPMC), one of six local oil mills acquired or established through the use of coco-levy funds.

“The reported selling and importation of palm oil by SPMC is “not only anomalous but downright treasonous,” said KMP Deputy Secretary-General Willy Marbella.

“This shows that coco-levy funds and assets, like the United Coconut Planters Bank, are continuously being mismanaged,” added Marbella, also the CLAIM national coordinator.

According to him, the importation of palm oil, together with coconut-based coconut oil, is killing the livelihood of small coconut farmers who are reeling from a sharp drop in copra prices.

“While small coconut farmers suffer from the very low prices of copra and other unjust exactions by unscrupulous copra traders, the Aquino [administration’s] importation policy continues to wreak havoc [on] the lives of millions of small coconut farmers,” Marbella said.

He also said  a congressional inquiry should pave the way for the turnover of these coco-oil mills and assets acquired through the coco-levy funds to these farmers.

“The return of all coco-levy funds and assets to [their] rightful owners is long overdue. It is time that companies established using the coco-levy funds be turned over to farmers,” the KMP official said.

The KMP and CLAIM are proposing the creation of the Small Coconut Farmers Council (SCFC), which will “directly manage and administer the recovered coco-levy funds, including the operations of the CIIF-Oil Mills Group, 14 Holding Companies, United Coconut Planters Bank, Cocolife and other corporations acquired through the coco-levy funds for the benefit of small coconut farmers in lieu of the Presidential Task Force on the Coco Levy Fund created by the Aquino administration.

“With the SCFC, small coconut farmers will have complete control over the coco-levy funds and prevent the likes of National Anti-Poverty Commission Secretary Joel Rocamora who did not contribute even a single cent to the funds and has no right to meddle over our money,” Marbella said.