Duterte wants coconut farmers' trust fund 'soonest possible time'

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday urged lawmakers to pass a bill establishing the coconut farmers' trust fund "at the soonest possible time."

"Our coconut farmers form a significant part of the basic sectors of our society. It is by the toil of their hands that we put food on the table," he said during his third State of the Nation Address as he urged the houses of Congress to convene the bilateral conference committee on this measure. 

The House of Representatives last year approved on final reading its measure seeking to consolidate all assets and benefits emanating from the coconut levy and create a Trust fund therefrom for the exclusive benefit of coconut farmers and farm workers as embodied in the Coconut Farmers Development Plan.

• House OKs bill creating coco levy trust fund

A similar bill hurdled the Senate earlier this year.