19th Floor, Cityland 10, Tower 1,
6815 H. V. dela Costa St. cor. Ayala
Avenue, Makati City, Philippines
Tel. No. 00-63-2 8127733
Fax No. 00-63-2 8127733
Email: [email protected]

The Philippine Coconut Federation Inc. (COCOFED)

 The Philippine Coconut Federation Inc. is a private, non-stock, and non-profit organization, founded by coconut planters and politicians in Southern Luzon in 1947. The leadership was later taken over by landlords, businessmen and politicians.

The Philippine Coconut Authority was created on 30 June 1973 through Presidential Decree PD 232 as the sole agency tasked with the development of the coconut industry. In December 1974, P.D. 623 was signed into law by then President Marcos specifying that the PCA's Governing Board shall composed of a chairman, three members of Cocofed, one member who is the owner of the Bugsuk Hybrid Coconut Seed Farm and the President of the Philippine National Bank.

Section 1 of P.D. 232 states that the purpose of the PCA was "to promote the accelerated growth and development of the coconut and other palm oils industry so that the benefits of such growth shall accrue to the greatest number". In contrast, the Governing Board of the PCA was almost all connected to Cocofed except for the PNB President.  

There are two kinds of Coconut Levies, these are the Coco fund Levy and the Coconut Consumers Stabilization Fund (CCSF) Levy.  The Coconut Investment Fund (COCOFUND) was established on 17 June 1971 under Republic Act (RA) 6260. The Coco fund was established to create a Coconut Investment Company (CIC) which is owned, capitalized at PhP 100 million and administered by the coconut farmers. Under RA 6260, a levy of PhP 0.55 per 100 kilos of copra was imposed for a period of 10 years. For this purpose, a Coco fund receipt was to be issued at the first sale  P.D. 276 states that "a levy, initially, of P15.00 per 100 kilograms of dried copra resecada or its equivalent in other coconut products, shall be imposed on every first sale," effective 20 August 1973.  The CCSF levy, initially at P15.00/ck of copra, reached a maximum of P100.00/ck of copra during the period of 9 years ending August 1982. The total fund collected was reported at P9.695 billion.

The Coco Levy was imposed upon the country's coconut farmers from August 1973 to August 1982, all during the Marcos regime. Through its 9-year span, it garnered an amount of P9.7 billion. Three institutions were the major players in the Coco Levy scheme. These were the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), the Philippine Coconut Producers Federation (COCOFED) and the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), which was established in 1975 from the CCSF collections.  

 During the Aquino administration, there were several attempts to recover the multi-billion Coco levy funds and assets. The seized assets were soon under the control of the Philippine Commission on Good Government. The PCGG then put its own people in the Boards of the coconut levy acquired firms to replace Cojuanco's group. 

In September 1995 President Ramos issued Executive Order 277 which directed that all income, interests, process or profits derived from the levy, as well as assets, properties and shares of stocks procured or utilized, be "administered and managed as public funds". EO 277 also created an ad hoc committee in consultation with representatives of the coconut industry, including coconut farmer's organizations, whose task was to rationalize a Master Plan covering 1995-2000.