Filtered By: Money
Money

Sandiganbayan junks firms' appeals in coco levy case


The Sandiganbayan has denied the respective appeals of companies tagged in the P74-billion civil case on the distribution of coco levy funds for the benefit of the coconut industry.

A resolution dated December 3 from the Second Division said the motions for reconsideration of the United Coconut Plants Life Assurance Corporation (Cocolife), the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), and the 14 holding companies of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) were all denied for lack of merit.

The Sandiganbayan had ruled that P74 billion worth of shares in San Miguel Corporation belong to the government after these were acquired using part of the coco levy fund collected from coconut farmers during the term of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

It then ordered that all income earned by the 20 Coconut Industry Investment Fund companies and the more than 753 million preferred shares in SMC be used to benefit the coconut industry.

Cocolife had urged the Sandiganbayan to withhold its partial summary judgment until a case conference with the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is set for both parties to come up with an "amicable solution" on the civil case. 

The companies under the CIIF, for its part, appealed to the Sandiganbayan to allow them to use coco levy fund to pay off their debts before allotting them to coconut farmers and the industry. UCPB is also a stakeholder of the CIIF. 

They also said the anti-graft court made a mistake when it failed to consider their outstanding obligations before ruling the recovery of its only asset.

However, the Sandiganbayan said a conference between Cocolife and the PCGG has no basis because the government already wants the enforcement of the partial summary judgment.

"The court funds no legal basis to suspend the proceedings or call for a case conference, especially since the party it aims to allegedly negotiate with is seeking the immediate execution of the same," the Sandiganbayan said.

It added that the arguments from all parties are rehashes, or "the same arguments that have already been judiciously passed upon and properly considered by the court."

Associate Justice Michael Frederick Musngi penned the resolution, with the concurrence of Associate Justices Oscar Herrera Jr. and Lorifel Pahimna.  —KBK, GMA News

LOADING CONTENT