PH CoCo Cities For CoCo Opportunities

Nestor V Saludo shared on Facebook today, Wednesday, 02 June 2021, the above call: “We want to hear your thoughts and inputs on the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act,” deadline next day, so here are my thoughts.

The title of this essay is a summary of my proposal for inclusion in the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the “Act Creating The Coconut Farmers And Industry Trust Fund” (RA 11524):

“CoCo Cities For CoCo Opportunities”
(Cooperatives Growing Coconuts In Cities For Collective, Commercial Opportunities)

In the IRR, under “Rule II: Definition Of Terms: Coconut Farmers And Industry Development Plan,” it says:

“Section 1. Creation of the Plan. The utilization of the Trust Fund, or any portion thereof, shall be in accordance with the Plan, which shall be prepared by the PCA.”

I note that the whole import of those 30 words above had not been carefully considered by the framers of the IRR, whoever they were, from the Department of Finance, Department of Budget & Management, and Department of Justice:

The IRR leaves it entirely to the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) to come up with The Whole Planfor the utilization of the Trust Fund! I think that that is giving the PCA too much authority!

And giving the PCA the awesome power to disburse an initial P5 million simply to prepare The Plan! (Followed by a yearly disbursement of the same amount to implement The Plan.)

So, I go back to my proposal as intimated in my title: “CoCo Cities For CoCo Opportunities.”

For the whole Coconut Industry Trust Fund Plan, there should be a Roadmap!

Roadmap – Here’s how Don Hofstrand puts it (August 2016, “Business Development Process,” Iowa State University, extension.iastate.edu), and I quote:

“Vision And Mission Statements -- A Roadmap Of Where You Want To Go And How To Get There.”

Now, for “CoCo Cities For CoCo Opportunities,” the Vision I’m thinking of is this:

Coco Vision:
Vibrant new cities arising from coconut-based farming systems and industries

That is accompanied by the

Coco Mission:
Supporting the growth of coco cities with financing, technologies, training, processing and marketing services.

I must emphasize here that the Vision is not only in the vibrant growing of coconuts for commercial products but more importantly the mix of crops – coconut-based farming systems.

Financing from government and private sources – the CoCo Cities will be built with public and private partnerships, including infusion of capital from other countries.

Technologies for new products from coconuts and many other crops. Production, processing and marketing to be continuous and vibrant.

Knowledge Bank built to backstop all CoCo activities – digital is the key, with presence anytime anywhere.

Of course, Cooperatives. In the lower image above, the blackboard shows names of newly voted Board of Directors of a coop, our Nagkaisa Multipurpose Cooperative, the last name being mine. The composition of the coop board is crucial; it must represent the broad society, including civic, religious, business, educational and other village/city groups.

With at least one CoCo City built in each region of the Philippines, the exciting times are coming!@517