Historic agreement declare coconut farmers bankable at last
THE Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB) and the Confederation of Coconut Farmers’ Organizations of the Philippines (Confed) are establishing a reliable and efficient financial assistance disbursement service using PVB basic deposit accounts and ATM debit cards for Confed members throughout the Philippines.
The heads of the two organizations are all set to sign on July 28 a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to promote financial inclusion, savings mobilization, and ownership participation in the bank (PVB) through the voluntary subscription of preferred shares by Confed members.
The objective is to establish a partnership whereby the bank will provide basic deposit account services, ATM debit cards, electronic fund disbursement facilities, and related banking services for Confed members for the purpose of: receiving carbon credit proceeds; receiving Department of Agriculture subsidies and other government assistance programs; receiving grants, incentives, benefits, and livelihood assistance from partner institutions, and promoting financial inclusion among coconut farmers nationwide.
More than revolutionary, this historic PVB-Confed agreement promises to be “solutionary,” according to the Confed signatory. On a private, voluntary basis and by a stroke of the pen the parties effectively declare the coconut farmers and workers to be bankable at long last. This has never happened before.
The idea is spreading fast and clear and Confed members are signing in. With more than three million members included at the end of the day, customer acquisition by PVB could be phenomenal, and with the conversion of preferred to common shares over a few years’ time, the coconut farmers can privately have their own bank — which would, in character, be both a digital bank and the first carbon bank in the country.
In 2024 Confed requested President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the transfer of the control and ownership of UCPB Savings Bank to the Confederation of Coconut Farmers Organizations of the Philippines (CCFOP-Confed) Inc.
CCFOP-Confed was bent on pursuing the clear and unqualified dictates and pronouncements of the Supreme Court that the coco levy fund is a fund awarded to the government “solely for the benefit of the coconut farmers and the development of the coconut industry.”
In G.R. No. 217965, Aug. 8, 2017, reiterating its ruling, the Supreme Court said that all coco levy funds and coco levy assets reconveyed to the government, whether voluntarily or through lawful order from a competent court, and all proceeds of any privatization of the coco levy assets, shall be used solely and exclusively for the benefit of all the coconut farmers and for the development of the coconut industry.
It further said that any disposition and utilization shall be guided by the following objectives: improving coconut farm productivity, developing coconut-based enterprises, and increasing the income of coconut farmers; strengthening coconut farmers’ organizations; and attaining a balanced, equitable, integrated and sustainable growth, rehabilitation and development of the coconut industry.
Confed noted that there had been neither a pronouncement nor declaration in the entire process of the privatization and sale of the shares of USB (UCPB Savings Bank) that the proceeds shall accrue solely and exclusively for the benefit of all the coconut farmers and for the development of the coconut industry pursuant to the Supreme Court rulings.
It was thus submitted that the privatization together with the entire bidding process of the UCPB Savings Bank Inc. could be considered null and void, if judicially challenged.
In fact, the LandBank declared a failure of bidding after the withdrawal and protests of Confed regarding the bidding of USB but proceeded to go for a negotiated bid.
Confed, for its part, did not go back to court for a restraining order, which it did in an earlier administration (Benigno Aquino III), but instead engaged the Marcos Jr. government by petitioning him to issue a new executive order to change the composition of the USB board and stipulate that four out of seven members be reserved for the representatives of the coconut farmers.
The ambassadors of Confed to Marcos, led by former public works secretary Babes Singson, said that the president had agreed to Confed’s request. The newspapers publicly reported the good news accordingly but Marcos never issued the requested EO and so the prevailing one enabled the continuation of LandBank’s decision for a negotiated bid which was won by the Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB). Now the USB has become a privately owned bank and is doing very well by all accounts.
But whether the P2.8-billion forked out by PVB for its acquisition of USB will go to the coco levy trust fund as provided for by court doctrine and RA 11524 (“solely for the benefit of the coconut farmers and the development of the coconut industry”) is one thing.
It would be another thing, however, to see what the private PVB would do on its own to be of service to the coconut farmers. Hence, a dialogue ensued between Confed and PVB on this matter and the result is the present project of cooperation. All throughout, however, the “solutionary” agreement was reached without prejudice to Confed’s claim to the original UCPB in accordance with court doctrine.
Charles R. Avila
Chairman and chief executive officer
Confederation of Coconut Farmers’ Organizations of the Philippines (Confed)