SC upholds decision on Danding's SMC shares

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld with finality its April 12 decision that business tycoon Eduardo “Danding" Cojuangco Jr. is the legitimate owner of the contested 20-percent shares of the San Miguel Corporation (SMC). In its regular en banc session, the majority of the high court’s justices junked the appeals of the government, represented by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), and multi-sectoral groups led by former senators Jovito Salonga and Wigberto Tañada. The media has yet to be furnished with a copy of the SC’s resolution. The petitioners are challenging the legality of Cojuangco’s acquisition of the SMC shares, which account for a 20-percent equity in the diversified food and beverage conglomerate. Last April 12, the SC ruled that Cojuangco’s stake in SMC was not ill-gotten and does not form part of the so-called coconut levy fund — the taxes exacted from coconut farmers during the time of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The PCGG had failed to substantiate its claim that Cojuangco acquired those shares illegally, the SC said. In their motions for reconsideration, the PCGG and the multi-sectoral groups said Cojuangco himself admitted that he acquired the contested shares using proceeds of loans exclusively from the United Coconut Planters Bank and credit advances from the Coconut Industry Investment Funds (CIIF) Oil Mills. But the SC on Tuesday said that the petitioners were unable to present new arguments that would make it reverse its April 12 decision. It likewise said that it will no longer entertain pleadings and that an entry of judgment should be made stating that the case is decided with finality. April 12 decision Cojuangco is the cousin of the late President Corazon Aquino, whose son, Benigno Aquino III, is the incumbent Philippine president. Despite the family ties, Cojuangco was perceived to be a close associate of Marcos, the Aquinos’ political nemesis. When Mrs. Aquino took over in 1986 following the downfall of the Marcos regime, she formed the PCGG to recover the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses and their cronies. Cojuangco’s 20-percent stake in SMC was among those the PCGG sequestered. The Sandiganbayan lifted the nine sequestration orders in 2007 and said that Cojuangco is the legitimate owner of the shares. The PCGG then appealed the case to the SC. In a 73-page ruling promulgated on April 12, the high court dismissed the PCGG’s petition, which sought to reverse the Sandiganbayan’s decision. In affirming the Sandiganbayan, the Supreme Court held: “The block of shares in San Miguel Corp. in the names of respondent Cojuangco, et al.... the exclusive property of Cojuangco et al. as registered owners." The SC likewise upheld the lifting of nine sequestration orders previously issued against the contested block of shares. — KBK, GMA News