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President Rodrigo Duterte appointed former Air Force chief Galileo Kintanar as the new head of Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) governing board and asked other officials from the agency to tender their courtesy resignation.

In his speech during the Air Force of the Philippines change of command, Duterte said he decided to choose Kintanar even if they are not close after observing the former Air Force chief.

"When we were conferring in the Cabinet, and I was looking for a candidate to be the chairman who should be someone that I can really trust, that even one peso will not be gone and I have observed him," he said.

"We are not, we are casual… I do not know General Kintanar, but I choose him to (be) the chairman of that board," Duterte added

On December 5, the Palace named Lt. Gen. Rozzano Briguez as the new Air Force chief, replacing Kintanar, who was to retire in 2020.

Former Cabinet secretary Leoncio Evasco was the chairman of the PCA’s governing board. Evasco quit to run as governor of Bohol in the 2019 elections.

He believed that placing Kintanar as chair of PCA will assure him that coconut farmers can get their money.

"If I can get the mechanisms of how the money will be distributed to the beneficiaries, and if I look for somebody that I can see that the people's money will not be stolen. It should be the retired Gen. Kintanar," Duterte said.

He said about P100 billion will be given to the PCA once Congress and Supreme Court agree on returning the coco levy fund, revealing that he is not comfortable with the current officials of the agency.

"I'm talking now about the retirement of Gen. Kintanar. Now in the Supreme Court, ah, in Congress after, I believe that they are crafting a law which says that the levy money, the coconut levy, should be returned to the farmers," Duterte said.

"But I think Congress will insist on that, and it’s about P 87 billion and you have the interest now, it’s going to go up something like P100 billion plus. Now, if it is coursed through the Philippine Coconut Board, this is not to you know, nothing about prejudice or prejudgment. I am not comfortable with all the people in that agency, for historically it has also been plagued with corruption," he added.

Duterte said it will be hard to trace those people who will received the money that's why he needs someone who has no issue of corruption.

"So I have asked them to tender resignation as a matter of courtesy," Duterte said.

"And I want somebody, I need someone who is above the rest of the crowd. Who is clean, because it's billion and I hope it will not just gone and be given to those who can rightfully handle the money. Then we might as well reserve that money for the future generation of farmers," he said.

Duterte told Kintanar he can choose who will help him run the agency.

"All I want is this. All I need, all I require, all I desire, all that I dream of is that people joining me in government are one, he must be utterly honest and second, that he is competent," he said.

"All you have to do is just keep an eye, and just at the end of the day, compute everything and look at the papers and see to it that the Filipino is protected," Duterte said. Ella Dionisio/DMS