The Office of the Solicitor General is pressing its plea for the Sandiganbayan to order the Philippine Telecommunications Investment Corporation (PTIC) to pay the state over P429 million representing additional dividends and interest from shares earlier reconveyed to the government.
In a recent pleading, the OSG disputed the arguments of the PTIC which had opposed the government’s motion, saying that these lacked merit.
Mere garnishee
The PTIC had contended that it was not a party to the case involving the shares, and that as a mere garnishee, or one tasked to simply keep money or property in question, it had already complied with its obligation to preserve the shares for the proper disposition of the court, and to deliver them to state.
The PTIC also argued that the Commission on Audit report on which the OSG based its plea should be the subject of a separate proceeding so that the company could present controverting evidence.
The Supreme Court earlier ordered the reconveyance of 111,415 PTIC shares registered in the name of Prime Holdings Inc. (PHI) to the government, as well as the transmittal of all dividends declared on the shares and legal interests. The shares were declared ill-gotten and belonging to the Republic.
The court’s order stemmed from the government’s civil case against the late Ramon Cojuangco, his wife Imelda Cojuangco and PHI which sought recovery of the PLDT shares that it said were part of the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. PTIC, once PLDT’s biggest stockholder, owned the shares in the telephone company that were registered in the name of PHI.
Underdeclared
After the shares were reconveyed to the state, an audit found, among others, that the PTIC did not declare all earnings or had underdeclared dividends from PLDT shares for several years, depriving the government of additional earnings.
The OSG said the PTIC’s argument that it was not bound by the execution since it was not a party to the case was untenable because the Sandiganbayan already ruled on this matter and ordered the PTIC to deliver the dividends to the state.
It said PTIC was bound by the execution of the resolution on the reconveyance of shares since it controlled the declaration of dividends and had already submitted itself to the court’s jurisdiction.