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MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court declared “conclusively” that the 72.2% of shares held by business tycoon Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. in the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) are owned by the state.
In one of the biggest rulings concerning the coco-levy funds, the high court affirmed a Sandiganbayan ruling in July 2003 awarding the disputed shares in UCPB in favor of the government.
By using “conclusively,” the high court is therefore making evidence presented in the case as incontrovertible.
The affirmed portion of the anti-graft court ruling states that: “The [UCPB shares] transferred to defendant Cojuangco are hereby declared conclusively owned by the Republic of the Philippines to be used only for the benefit of all coconut farmers and for the development of the coconut industry, and ordered reconveyed to the Government.”
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco and promulgated last November, the high court noted: “As the coconut levy funds partake of the nature of taxes and can only be used for public purpose, and importantly, for the purpose for which it was exacted, i.e., the development, rehabilitation and stabilization of the coconut industry, they cannot be used to benefit––whether directly or indirectly–– private individuals…”
The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) used the Coconut Consumer Stabilization Fund to purchase 72.2 percent of the First United Bank (which later became UCPB) in 1975 from Pedro Cojuangco, the father of former President Corazon Aquino.
Danding was the middle man in the transaction. The commission he got was pegged on the contract to sell the UCPB shares at P200 per share supposedly for his “vaunted entrepreneurial skills in, ironically, the simple task of bringing the buyer and the seller together," the government via the PCGG earlier said.
Nine magistrates voted in favor, the others inhibited.
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