EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 828 September 11, 1982

TEMPORARILY SUSPENDING THE EXPORTATION OF COPRA

WHEREAS, by reason of the typhoons that hit coconut-producing areas late last year, copra production has dropped considerably and is estimated to be thirty percent (30%) below the coconut production of the previous year;

WHEREAS, records indicate that the traditional volume for copra export in previous years has already been surpassed as early as the middle part of this year;

WHEREAS, owing to the tax differential existing in Western Europe in respect to copra and coconut oil, oil produced from exported copra is unfairly competing with, and being sold at prices lower than that of, oil produced in the Philippines thereby further depressing the world market prices to the prejudice of the country's coconut farmers;

WHEREAS, the shortfall in copra production and the unrestricted exportation of copra have resulted in the inadequacy of raw materials to feed the country's coconut oil mills, and as a consequence several oil mills are operating below efficient capacities and in certain instances totally shut down, to the prejudice of the workers;

WHEREAS, there is an urgent need to adopt measures to insure the availability of copra to fill the requirements of the Government's coco-diesel program and the production of coco-based consumer products for the domestic market; promote the interest of the coconut farmers in terms of better prices for their copra and ensuring the viability of the oil mills owned and/or controlled by them; and enhance the Government's policy of assuring the consuming countries of an adequate and continuous supply of coconut oil thereby establishing the Philippines as a reliable supplier of such coconut product in the world market;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MAARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested upon me by the Constitution and laws, do hereby order the following:

Sec. 1. Until otherwise ordered by the President of the Philippines, the exportation of copra by any person, firm or entity is hereby temporarily suspended effective immediately while copra production is insufficient to supply the requirements of the local oil mills.

Sec. 2. The Philippine Coconut Authority is hereby directed to suspend all applications for license to export copra and, in consultation with the different sectors of the coconut industry, to formulate and recommend for the approval of the President additional feasible measures to achieve increased copra production and to insure copra availability to enable the country's oil millers to fulfill the requirements of the domestic and world market.

Sec. 3. This order shall take effect immediately. lawphi1.net

Done in the City of Manila, this 11th day of September, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eighty-two.


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