In her last State of the Nation Address, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo enumerated a long list of projects that, clearly, would demand increased budgetary allocation from the nation's coffers. Unfortunately, to finance its numerous projects, this administration plans to realign funds intended for the poor.

Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves pointed to the sale of government shares in San Miguel Corporation (SMC) as one of the possible fund sources that could fill the budget gap, as well as finance the projects mentioned in the SONA.

Surely, Secretary Teves is aware that the shares in SMC were bought using the coconut levy funds. But he seems to be acting as if he was unaware that the coco levy funds are intended to benefit the coconut farmers and the country's ailing coconut industry. In its 11 May 2007 ruling, the Sandiganbayan awarded these SMC shares to the government "in trust for all coconut farmers." Has the good secretary also forgotten that the Supreme Court had declared the coconut levy funds as special funds to be used solely for the development of the coconut industry and for the upliftment of the lives of coconut farmers and farm workers?

The uproar over the diversion of the fertilizer fund and the human rights money has not fully subsided and yet here comes the administration again planning to divert resources. It is increasingly becoming apparent that this administration has acquired the bad habit of diverting funds meant for the rural poor to other uses.

We were expecting government to finally implement major reforms to address and correct social inequity in the countryside. Alas, social reforms were clearly absent from the President's SONA. Ironically, poverty alleviation emerged as one of the priorities in the Arroyo administration's remaining years. Yet, its plan of diverting funds intended for the poor runs counter to this noble aim.

Government's insistence in allocating the coco levy shares in SMC for purposes other than what it was originally meant for goes against the interest of small and impoverished coconut farmers and farm workers. Using these special funds to bridge the budget deficit and finance the projects identified in the President's SONA would deprive the coconut farmers of much-needed financial aid.

If anything, the proposed realignment of the special fund is yet again another display of government's gross insensitivity to the plight of the poor coconut farmers and farm workers. The Arroyo administration has no business lining up big projects if it plans to dip its hands in the pockets of the poor.

Has Sec. Teves run out of ideas to source funds for the government's projects?