Presidential Decree No. 582 (PD 582) — FURTHER AMENDING PRESIDENTIAL DECREE No. 232, AS AMENDED
WHEREAS, unlike other copra producing countries, the
Philippines has not exerted concerted efforts towards the development
and planting of an early-breeding and high-yielding hybrid variety of
coconut trees capable of producing at least five (5) tons of copra per
hectare per year compared to the present national average of less than
one (1) ton per hectare;
WHEREAS, to enable the country to compete in the
international market of vegetable fats and oils and thereby ensure
stable and better incomes for the coconut farmers, it is imperative that
the country should pursue a vigorous program of replanting existing
coconut farms and idle lands with superior hybrid coconut trees;
WHEREAS, to attain that objectives the Government should
channel part of what the coconut farmers are presently paying as coconut
consumers stabilization levy to their ultimate direct benefit;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the
Philippines, by virtue of the powers in me vested by the Constitution,
in order to effect the desired changes and objectives, do hereby decree
the further amendment of Presidential Decree No. 232, as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 3 of Presidential Decree No. 232, as
amended, is hereby amended by inserting new paragraphs to read as
follows:
"o) To formulate and implement within the next five (5) years a
nationwide coconut replanting program using precocious high-yielding
hybrid seednuts;
p) To distribute, for free, to coconut farmers the hybrid coconut
seednuts herein authorized to be acquired."
SEC. 2. A new section, to be known as Section 3-B, is hereby
inserted to read as follows:
"SEC. 3-B. Coconut Industry Development Fund. —
There is hereby created a permanent fund to be known as Coconut Industry
Development Fund which shall be deposited with, and administered and
utilized by, the Philippine National Bank through it subsidiary the
National Investment and Development Corporation for the following
purposes:
To finance the establishment, operation and maintenance of a
hybrid coconut seednut farm under such terms and conditions that may be
negotiated by the National Investment and Development Corporation with
any private person, corporation, firm or entity as would insure that the
country shall have, at the earliest possible time, a proper, adequate
and continuous supply of high yielding hybrid seednuts;
To purchase all of the seednuts produced by the hybrid
coconut seednut farm which shall be distributed, for free, by the
Authority to coconut farmers in accordance with, and in the manner
prescribed in, the nationwide coconut replanting program that it shall
devise and implement; Provided, That farmers who have been paying
the levy herein authorized shall be given priority;
To finance the establishment, operation and maintenance of
extension services, model plantations and other activities as would
insure that the coconut farmers shall be informed of the proper methods
of replanting their farms with the hybrid seednuts.
As the initial funds of the Coconut Industry Development Fund, the
Authority is hereby directed to pay to the Coconut Industry Development
Fund the amount of One Hundred Million Pesos (P100,000,000.00) out of
its collections of the coconut consumers stabilization levy and
thereafter the Authority shall pay to the said Fund an amount equal to
at least twenty centavos (P0.20) per kilogram of copra resecada or its
equivalent out of its current collections of the coconut consumers
stabilization levy. In the event that the coconut consumers
stabilization levy is lifted, a permanent levy of twenty centavos
(P0.20) is thereafter automatically imposed on the first sale of every
kilogram of copra or its equivalent in terms of other coconut products
which shall be collected and paid to the Coconut Industry Development
Fund by the Authority in accordance with the mechanics presently
followed in the collection of the coconut consumers stabilization levy.
The Philippine National Bank is hereby authorized to invest any
unutilized portion of the Fund in easily convertible investments and all
earnings therefrom shall form part of the Fund.
The sale or transfer of the hybrid coconut seednuts herein
authorized to be acquired is hereby declared exempt from the payment of
the coconut consumers stabilization levy and any and all taxes and fees
of whatever kind and nature."
Repealing Clause.
SEC. 3. Repealing Clause. — All laws, executive and
administrative orders, rules and regulations inconsistent with the
foregoing provisions are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.
SEC. 4. This Decree shall take effect immediately.
Done in the City of Manila, this 14th day of November, in the
year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-four.
(Sgd.)
FERDINAND E. MARCOS
President of the Philippines
By the President:
(Sgd.)
ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
Executive Secretary
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
