Former Finance Secretary Gary Teves urged the Aquino administration to use the P56.5 billion recovered from the San Miguel Corp. shares sale to help the ailing coconut industry and its farmers.

Teves said in a press release yesterday that the government should use the proceeds to fund programs of the industry, provide livelihood projects and help increase the income of farmers in particular, amid apprehension of the farmer groups that the funds may be used to finance the Aquino administration’s anti-poverty programs.

Teves, a director of SMC, cited the Supreme Court decision in January this year that said that the funds “may only be used for the benefit of all coconut farmers and for the development of the entire coconut industry.”

The Philippine Coconut Authority has said that there are more than nine million coconut trees covering 17 percent of the entire province, making it the largest industry in Negros Oriental in terms of land area.

Teves also urged the managers of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund to ensure that the proceeds would really redound to the coconut industry and farmers.

The P56.5 billion was returned to the National Treasury after SMC bought the government’s 24 percent stake in the company last week.*RG

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