AQUINO TOSSES SAN MIGUEL SHARES ISSUE TO LEGAL TEAM
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, APRIL 16, 2011 (MANILA STANDARD) by Joyce Pangco Pañares - President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday ordered his legal team to review and recommend possible action on the Supreme Court ruling upholding businessman Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.'s rights to his shares in San Miguel Corp.
"I have tasked our legal counsel to give a briefer," Mr. Aquino said.
"This is a very involved case and I want to know what our appropriate actions will be depending on their recommendation.
"The legal opinion has to be correct and given at the soonest possible time. Any comment I make now will be based on observations of people reacting to the ruling and that puts me at a disadvantage."
Cojuangco, a cousin of the late former President Corazon Aquino, is Mr. Aquino's uncle.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said Cojuangco's 20-percent stake in San Miguel did not form part of the so-called coconut levy funds and as such did not belong to the government.
The coconut levy was a tax exacted from coconut farmers from 1973 to 1982, during the term of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos. Cojuangco and other Marcos-era officials acquired the United Coconut Planters Bank using the coconut levy funds.
But in 1983 Cojuangco, using United Coconut Planters Bank, was said to have borrowed money to acquire for himself the disputed 20-percent stake.
UCPB was the depository of the multi-billion-peso national coconut levy fund collected by the government.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government said it will file a motion for consideration with the Supreme Court. A coconut farmers group, the Coconut Industry Reform Movement, will also ask the justices to reconsider their ruling.
The group's leader, Joey Faustino, said the decision would make it more difficult for the government and coconut farmers to prevail on another contested block of shares in San Miguel, which he said was illegally acquired by big coconut producers associated with Cojuangco and Marcos.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, meanwhile, said he was a witness to Cojuangco's purchase of the shares, which he described as legitimate.
"Danding [Cojuangco] was the one who bought those shares for himself. I was there," Enrile said.
He said Cojuangco had secured a loan from the United Coconut Planters Bank to buy the 20 percent stake in San Miguel.
"It was a legitimate loan. He paid for it."
Enrile said that while the loan that Cojuangco had received might have come from the coconut levy, it did not mean the shares he had bought using those funds were owned by coconut farmers.
But Senator Joker Arroyo, who was the executive secretary of Mr. Aquino's mother, described the Supreme Court decision as a defeat for the administration and criticized the President for his "lukewarm reaction" to the case.
He said the claim against Cojuangco was among the first cases filed after Mrs. Aquino issued Executive Order 1 creating the Presidential Commission on Good Government to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses.
"After 25 long years, and after seven high courts starting with Teehankee, Fernan, Narvasa, Davide, Panganiban, Puno and Corona, the Supreme Court ruled that Danding is the owner, plain and simple—not the coconut farmers who paid for the levies which were collected by the government," Arroyo said.
"Predictably, the government's lukewarm reaction to its defeat by the Supreme Court, which it loves to hate, is very revealing."
A left-leaning lawmaker in the House, meanwhile, dared the President to break his silence on the ruling.
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano accused President Aquino of entering into a "sweetheart deal" with his uncle and described the Supreme Court decision "a distortion of history." With Christine F. Herrera and Rey T. Salita
FROM THE MANILA TIMES
PCGG wants reversal of Danding ruling By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Correspondent and Sammy Martin, Reporter
(PHOTO - P-Noy`s uncle, Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr.)
THE Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said that they would file a motion for reconsideration with the Supreme Court over its verdict declaring businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. as the legitimate owner of a significant block of shares in San Miguel Corp.
"We will [file] a motion for reconsideration with respect to this decision," PCGG chairman Andy Bautista said in an interview aired over ANC Dateline Philippines.
"What we'd like to do is really review this case. We want to analyze the various issues that were raised and arguments used by the Court in coming up with its decision," he added.
In a 73-page decision released Tuesday, the Supreme Court en banc dismissed the petition of PCGG that sought the reversal of a 2007 Sandiganbayan ruling which said Cojuangco did not use coco levy funds to acquire 20% of San Miguel.
The Court said PCGG failed to present evidence that would substantiate its allegation.
Bautista said that while they plan to appeal the High Court ruling, they were not surprised by it.
Farmers' 24% stake Aside from PCGG, coconut farmers group Coconut Industry Reform Movement (CIRM) will also ask the High Tribunal to reconsider its ruling. CIRM head Joey Faustino said the ruling may make it more difficult for the government and coconut farmers to prevail on another contested block of shares in San Miguel that, he said, was illegally acquired by big coconut producers associated with Cojuangco and the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The said block of sequestered shares, equivalent to 24% of San Miguel, was converted into non-voting preferred shares in 2009. The shares were originally held by companies under the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF), a holding company controlled by Cojuangco.
"There are 2 blocks of shares in SMC we are contesting, one is CIIF and this was converted in 2009 and you have the alleged Cojuangco shares [subject of recent Supreme Court ruling]." said Faustino.
"It's the right time for President (Benigno Aquino 3rd) to come up with a stand on this very important issue which affects the largest marginalized sector in the country, the coconut farmers," he added.
Rep. Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis party-list however noted that it is puzzling why the President has been quiet over his uncle's case considering that the Aquinos and the Cojuangcos had estranged political relationship for the longest time.
Meanwhile, President Aquino said that he would decide on the issue after his legal team provided him a briefer on the Supreme Court's decision.
Speaking to reporters during a chance interview in General Santos City, President Aquino admitted that he has yet to read the High Court ruling but he said he has tasked his legal counsels to give him a briefer on the decision.
"There's so many details and I just want to get the clearest picture of what transpired and what appropriate courses of action will be depending on the recommendations of, again, the legal counsel that I've employed," Mr. Aquino said.
The recent High Court decision effectively removed the writ of sequestration over Cojuangco's stake in San Miguel, weeks before the planned sale of shares of owners as part of an $850-million capital-raising activity.
Enrile on Danding In contrast, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile defended Cojuangco on Thursday, saying Danding legitimately owned the SMC shares.
Enrile who was then chairman of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) said that Danding made a legitimate loan with the bank to pay for the SMC shares. He added that Danding already paid for the loan.
Enrile said the coco levy has nothing to do with the loan.
"Danding (Cojuangco) was the one who bought those shares for himself. I was there," Enrile said as he claimed that Cojuangco's vindication came after 30 years of waiting.
He said that the deal was legitimate as he defended Danding for securing a loan to buy his 20% shares in SMC where the latter was serving as bank president.
On the other hand, Sen. Joker Arroyo did not share the same opinion as Enrile. Expressing his disappointment in the Supreme Court ruling, Arroyo said, "After 25 long years, and after 7 High Courts starting with Teehankee, Fernan, Narvasa, Davide, Panganiban, Puno and Corona, the Supreme Court ruled that Danding is the owner, plain and simple, not the coconut farmers who paid for the levies which were collected by the government." With reports from Cris G. Odronia And Llanesca T. Panti
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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