True worth of SC’s Cocobank ruling

On the heels of the victory of the government and of small coconut farmers regarding the ownership of the 24-percent block of Coconut Industry Investment Fund-San Miguel Corp. (CIIF-SMC) shares comes the Supreme Court decision on the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) shares—another resounding triumph for the farmers, not because of the shares’ current peso value but because of its implications for another related coconut levy case.

In April 2011, the high court gave Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. the disputed 20-percent block of SMC shares. But the April 2011 decision noted that Cojuangco had not been proven to be a crony of former President Ferdinand Marcos and that there was no previous law defining ill-gotten wealth. With the decision on the UCPB shares, however, ill-gotten wealth is now well-defined, and there is more solid ground for reopening the case on the 20-percent SMC block. The UCPB decision clearly shows that the bank was a public corporation all along. Therefore, Cojuangco was holding public office when he borrowed money to buy the shares for himself. Note that it is a criminal offense to enrich oneself through breach of public trust—especially by P50 billion!

But while the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) is trying to figure out how to recover more of the coco levy funds from Cojuangco, these farmers’ victories have yet to be translated into actual benefits for them.

In January 2012, the Court declared the CIIF-SMC shares, worth P71 billion, as public funds held in trust by the government. But until now, Malacañang remains vague and indecisive on the use, management and administration of the funds. In fact, after the recent UCPB decision, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte announced that Malacañang left all decisions on the recovered assets to the PCGG.

So the primary question remains: Will the small coconut farmers benefit from the recovered funds at all? The answer should be a categorical yes based on the intent of the presidential decrees (the coconut farmers must be participants in and beneficiaries of the development and growth of the coconut industry) and on the Supreme Court’s decisions declaring the funds government-owned, to be used only for the benefit of all coconut farmers and for the development of the coconut industry.

The Aquino administration, however, has so far appointed mostly people who are close to Cojuangco to run and manage the UCPB-CIIF Group of Companies.

The coconut farmer groups must stay vigilant to make sure that the coco levy funds are handled and used the way they should be.

—JOEY FAUSTINO,

executive director,

Coconut Industry Reform (COIR) Movement Inc.,

[email protected]