PCA hit for underspending

Sen. Cynthia Villar on Thursday slammed the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) for not doing enough to help farmers.

“What program are you talking about? How can you be implementing a program if you are not even using your budget,” Villar told Glenn Santos, the new PCA administrator, who gave a presentation during the Senate committee on agriculture and food hearing to help pass new laws related to the P75.4-billion coco levy fund.

Villar said the agency has been underspending over the past years such that it’s budget has been reduced significantly.

“In 2014, your budget was P4 billion, now it’s down to just over P1 billion,” she said. “Double time ka, hijo [Address this quickly], you won’t be the one suffering if your budget gets cut yet again, it would be the poor coconut farmers.”

The Supreme Court earlier declared the funds used to buy shares in San Miguel Corporation were public in nature and had to be used for the benefit of the farmers.