MANILA, Nov. 24, 2014—“Thou shalt not steal!”
This stirring plea sums up the message of a Church official to parties allegedly responsible for the further impoverishment of the country’s coconut farmers, who after so many years of struggle have yet to reap the benefits of the controversial multibillion-peso Coco Levy Fund.
“Not to use such funds for the benefit of the coconut farmers is against the seventh commandment ‘Thou shalt not steal’,” says Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), in a statement of support for the farmers.
Some coconut farmers fighting for their cause are currently in Manila, bringing their plight to the attention of Malacañang. They have come all the way from Davao, heading towards the capital city in a 71-day journey on foot. While many have suffered due to Yolanda, Villegas describes the experience of coconut farmers, especially of those in typhoon-hit Visayas, a region dependent economically on the crop, as particularly devastating because swathes of lands formerly teeming with coconut trees are now practically bare.
“…Many coconut farmers, we are told, have given up on the dollar-crop altogether, reckoning it more expensive to revive their coconut businesses rather than to start with something new, from the ground up!” the prelate laments.
Villegas noted Filipinos who make their living farming coconuts have similar problems.
Their protest is justified, he explains, given that they have not received enough help from the government.
He adds the farmers have all the right to voice out their grievance that their due has not been given them.
The prelate shares, “Less in life, more in Law” echoing the classic social justice adage.
Citing a Supreme Court ruling favoring the farmers, Villegas shares, “Very clearly then, the funds raised by exactions from coconut farmers cannot be applied to private purposes and should be used for the benefit of the coconut farmers themselves.”
The prelate expresses fears, however, that Filipino coconut farmers would become part of the “weaker if not weakest members of society—victims of those who, in an unprincipled and un-Christian manner, exploit the defenselessness of the economically harassed” should circumstances prevail.
“I join the protest against this marginalization of our coconut farmers and call on the government to demonstrate its resolve at social justice in their favor,” he stated. (Raymond A. Sebastián/CBCPNews)