CoA conducts special coco levy audit

The Commission on Audit (CoA) on Tuesday announced that it is conducting a special audit on the P75-billion coconut levy fund which the Supreme Court (SC) declared should be used for the benefit of coconut farmers and for the development of the coconut industry.

In a statement, Bulacan Representative Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado – in his sponsorship of the P12.29 billion budget of the CoA for 2020 — confirmed that state auditors have been looking into the coco levy funds.

He noted that it was the first time that the CoA conducted a special audit on the coco levy funds and this is the reason why they could not give a timeline as to when the audit will be finished.

To recall, the controversial coco levy fund came from taxes imposed on coconut farmers during the martial law years by alleged cronies of Marcos, including Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, with the promise of sharing investments and development of the industry.

In January 2012, the SC ruled in favor of government that a 31-percent bloc of San Miguel Corp. shares was bought using the coconut levy funds – which constitute public money – with a caveat that the money should be used solely for the benefit of farmers and the industry and the ruling became final on 4 September that same year.