SC seeks PCGG side on plea over SMC shares bought with coco levy money

The Supreme Court has ordered the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to comment on a motion to overturn an Aug. 11, 2015 decision on a portion of the 24-percent bloc of shares in San Miguel Corporation (SMC) bought with funds from the coconut levy.

 

The SC junked the petition from United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corporation asserting their claim over the shares. The SC said the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City Branch 59 has no jurisdiction to hear and resolve suits involving the sequestered coco levy assets and coco levy funds.

 

The Makati court denied in 2013 the PCGG's motion to dismiss the consolidated petitions for declaratory relief filed by UCPB and Cocolife. But the SC ruled that the Sandiganbayan has jurisdiction over the case, not the Makati court.

 

The Court said the Sandiganbayan, which is the body authorized to hear cases on the recovery of ill-gotten wealth and related cases under Section 4 (c) of Presidential Decree 1606, the law that created the the anti-graft court, as amended by Republic Act No. 7975 and Republic Act No. 8249.

 

The controversial fund came from taxes imposed on coconut farmers during the martial law years by alleged cronies of then-President Ferdinand Marcos, including Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco.

 

The collections were allegedly used to fund the personal concerns of the supposed Marcos cronies, including the purchase of the UCPB and a majority stake in food and beverage giant SMC, now a diversified conglomerate. The fund was sequestered after Marcos was ousted in the February 1986 People Power revolution.

 

In a petition with the Makati RTC, UCPB alleged that the capital used in establishing the companies created through the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF), under which the shares were registered, was not exclusively sourced from the coconut levy money.

 

While P633 million was invested by the CIIF administrator, UCPB claimed that it also invested around P112 million in the six CIIF oil mills group.

 

The SC in January 2012 upheld – with modifications – a 2004 decision by the Sandiganbayan declaring the San Miguel shares as public funds for having having been bought with the coco levy money. 

 

The SC then ruled that the shares should be returned to the government as part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses or their cronies. The SC ruling became final in September 2012. — Mark Merueñas/RSJ/VS, GMA News