De Lima renews call for return to govt of coco levy funds and proceeds

Marcos-era coconut levy funds "should now be so transferred (to the government) without further delay," Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Wednesday after the Supreme Court set aside a 1993 Makati court decision on sequestered coco levy assets and funds. 

 

Coco levy funds were used to acquire a 24 percent bloc of shares in San Miguel Corporation. The government has been trying for decades to reacquire the funds and the proceeds from the shares.

 

De Lima said all coco levy funds have yet to be returned to the government to this day.

 

"I commend the SC for its diligence in preventing another legal machination to frustrate its previous rulings declaring the fund as one established for the benefit of coconut farmers, including those used by UCPB to purchase San Miguel shares," she said.

 

De Lima also praised the Philippine Commission on Good Government and the Office of the Solicitor General, both of which are under the Department of Justice, for their "timely and urgent action against this backdoor legal maneuver."

The case
 

In a 30-page decision penned by Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr, the SC en banc granted the petition filed by the PCGG seeking to set aside the 2013 orders issued by Presiding Judge Winlove Dumayas of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Makati City Branch 59 denying its motion to dismiss the consolidated petitions for declaratory relief filed by UCPB and Cocolife.

 

The United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corporation wanted to assert their claim over a portion of the 24-percent bloc of shares in San Miguel Corporation (SMC) bought with coconut levy funds.

 

In a statement, the UCPB said it "respects the Supreme Court’s decision ordering the dismissal of the Bank’s petition for declaratory relief or request for a legal clarification on UCPB's rights to its minority shares of stock in the CIIF Oil Mills & indirectly in an 11% portion of the sequestered San Miguel Corporation (SMC) shares,"

 

But the UCPB also said it "used its own funds and not coco levy funds" to invest in coconut mills and SMC shares.

 

UCPB asserted that "it is excluded from the earlier SC coco levy decision."

 

Remaining legal hurdle

 

Despite the SC ruling favoring the government, De Lima said there is still one other legal challenge that remains unresolved in connection with coco levy funds - the case filed by the so-called Confederation of Coconut Farmers Organization of the Phils (CCFOP) against Executive Orders 179 and 180.

 

"The government and the public should be vigilant that this case also does not succeed in reversing previous SC rulings declaring the coco levy as public funds," De Lima said.

 

We must see these cases for what they are, as last ditch feeble attempts by powerful interest groups to once again rob our coconut farmers of what has already been duly declared to be theirs by the SC. 

 

De Lima branded as a "last ditch feeble attempts" the moves by the UCPB and CocoLife to contest an otherwise final SC decision.

 

"Our coconut farmers have been robbed long enough. It is now time for them to truly benefit from their decades of toil through scholarships, trainings, equipment, and other support services under a Philippine Coconut Authority roadmap for the utilization of the coco levy fund," she said.

 

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, with the promise of sharing investments and development of the coconut industry.

 

The collections were allegedly used to fund the personal concerns of the Marcos cronies, including the purchase of the Coconut Planters Bank and a majority stake in food and beverage giant San Miguel, now a diversified conglomerate. The fund was sequestered after Marcos was ousted in the February 1986 People Power revolution.  — ELR, GMA News