Sec. 3. No law shall be passed exempting any entity of the Government or its subsidiary in any guise whatever, or any investment of public funds from jurisdiction of the commission on Audit."
WHEREAS. the commission on Audit, consistent with its mandate and relying upon the above declaration of the supreme court, has opined on 15 January 1993 that the coconut levy:
. . . would seem to fall within the purview of the provisions of Section 63 of Presidential Decree No. 1445, to wit:
'Except as may otherwise be specifically provided by law or competent authority all moneys and property officially received by a public officer in any capacity or upon any occasion must be accounted for as government funds and government property.
It would seem, therefore, that all moneys realized form the said levy should accordingly be accounted for as governments funds the provisions of section 5, Article III, of PD No. 961 notwithstanding, in the light of the following provisions of the 1987 constitution:
'All money collected on any tax levied for a special purpose shall be treated as a special fund and [aid out for such purpose only. If the purpose for which a special fund was created has been fulfilled or abandoned, the balance, if any, shall be transferred to be genera; fund of the Government. (Sec. 23 3, Article VI).
'All existing laws, decrees, executive orders, proclamations, letter of instructions, and other executive issuances not inconsistent with this Constitution shall remain operative until amended, repealed, or revoked funds.
xxx xxx xxx
In the light of the foregoing, this Commission is strongly of the view that the coconut levy is a public fund, and therefore subject to government audit."
WHEREAS, the Bureau of Internal revenue, in replying to the query raised by the Philippine Coconut authority Administrator as to the character of the coconut levy funds, relied upon the same Supreme Court ruling and, thus, ruled on 15 December 1992, as follows:
" . . . the Supreme Court of the Philippines, already had the occasion to make an En Banc pronouncement that it was the welfare of the entire nation that provided the prime moving factor for the imposition of the levy. Neither can it be denied that the coconut industry is one of the major industries supporting the national economy. . .
Moreover, the coconut levies are forced contributions levied by the taxing power on the coconut farmers. the levies imposed upon the coconut products of their coconut farmers are taxes in fact. They are enforced contributions levied by the taxing power on the coconut farmers, neither defendant upon the will nor the contractual assent, express or implied of the persons thus taxed. Thus, the coconut farmers were originally required by R.A. 6260, on June 19, 1971, to pay the sum equivalent of P0.55 on their first domestic sale of every one hundred kilograms of copra, or its equivalent in terms of other coconut products; P0.50 of the exaction were accrued to a special fund, the COCONUT INVESTMENT FUND(CIF). Likewise, the levy of P15.00 per 100 kilograms of copra resecada or its equivalent in other coconut products, set by P.D. 276 on August 20, 1972 were imposed on the farmer's first domestic sale and they were accrued to a separate trust fund known as the COCONUT CONSUMERS STABILIZATION FUND (CCSF).
Such being the case, and since the burdens of the levies thereby imposed and collected were meant to be shouldered by the coconut farmers, the coconut levy is not a public trust fund for the benefit of the coconut farmers, but it is in the nature of a tax and, therefore, are public funds that are subject to government administration and disposition."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Republic of the Philippines pursuant to the powers vested in me by lay hereby order and direct:
(a) The coconut levy funds, which include all income, interest, proceeds or profits derived therefrom, as well as all assets, properties and shares of stocks procured or obtained with the use of such funds, shall be treated, utilized administered and managed as public funds consistent with the uses and purposes under the laws which constituted them and the development priorities of the government, including the governments' coconut productivity, rehabilitation research, extension, farmers organizations and market promotions programs, which are designed to advance the development of the coconut industry and the welfare of the coconut farmers.
The heads of the Department of Agriculture, Presidential Commission on Good Government Philippine Coconut Authority, united Coconut Planter's Bank and The Coconut Industry Investment Fund, herein constituted as an ad-hoc committee with the secretary of Agriculture as Chairman, in consultation with representative of the coconut industry, including coconut farmer's organizations, shall jointly review, rationalize and integrate their concerns and programs in a Master Plan for the years 1995 to 2000.
(b) All existing laws, rules and regulations governing custodianship, use, disposition, disbursement and/or divestment of public funds and properties shall be applied in the utilization, administration and management of the coconut levy funds.
DONE in the City of Manila, this 24th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and ninety-five.