MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte may have vetoed the Coco Levy Fund Bill—a measure to set up a P100-billion trust fund for coconut farmers—because of a non-existent provision for a perpetual trust fund, a candidate for senator said Tuesday. “Upon reading his veto message, the president cited as one of the grounds the ‘establishment of a perpetual Trust Fund’ that violates Article VI Section 29(3) of the 1987 Constitution. Where is the perpetual character of the fund there?”The coconut levy trust fund is in addition to the P10-billion funding from the General Appropriations Act. The bicameral conference committee approved last November the Coco Levy Fund Bill for the second time, more than a month after Congress had recalled the already ratified bill to prevent a possible veto from the president. Aside from the Coco Levy Fund Bill, the measure reconstituting the Philippine Coconut Authority, and the Tax Amnesty Bill, all priorities of the administration, have also been vetoed.

Source: Philippine Star February 19, 2019 03:35 UTC