MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Joker Arroyo questioned Malacañang’s supposed silence on the ruling considering its impact on the late President Corazon “Cory” Aquino’s order to recover all ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, his family, relatives, subordinates and close associates.
“Predictably, the government’s lukewarm reaction to its defeat by the Supreme Court, which it loves to hate, is very revealing,” Arroyo said in a separate statement.
In General Santos City, President Benigno Aquino III said Thursday that “at the end of the day, the interest of the majority will prevail” in the coconut levy fund issue.
The President made the statement two days after the Supreme Court ruled that his uncle, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., owns 20 percent of San Miguel Corp.
Mr. Aquino reiterated that he could not comment on the Supreme Court ruling because he was awaiting a legal briefer on it.
‘Letdown for Cory’
Arroyo blasted the high court ruling that Cojuangco did not use coconut levy funds to purchase his 20-percent share in SMC.
“That is a terrible defeat, a letdown, for Cory,” the senator told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, referring to the former President’s first executive order creating the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to go after ill-gotten wealth of Marcos and his cronies.
Arroyo was the elder Aquino’s first executive secretary.
Clearest picture
The President explained his reluctance to give his stand on the ruling.
“There are so many details and I just want to get the clearest picture of what transpired and what appropriate courses of action will be (taken), depending on the recommendations of the legal counsel,” the President said.
Mr. Aquino said that if the PCGG had already “formed its opinion, I’m waiting for its official brief on this before I make a comment.”
The PCGG said on Wednesday that it would likely file a motion for reconsideration with the high tribunal.
The President said he wanted to study the briefer before making any comment “so that I won’t have to eat my words.”
He said he had no opportunity to read the ruling since it was issued on Tuesday because he had to attend to many engagements for the past two days.
He was in Nueva Ecija province the other day to attend the RP-US Balikatan exercises and he flew Thursday to General Santos City for a series of engagements.
In Malacañang, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda assured the public that the Aquino administration would be objective in dealing with the case.
‘Distortion of history’
Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano described the court ruling as a “distortion of history” and challenged Mr. Aquino to break his silence on the issue.
“The Supreme Court decision is an insult to small coconut farmers long denied of their just and rightful ownership of the multibillion-peso coco levy funds. It’s like rubbing salt onto the wounds inflicted against small coco farmers by the Marcos-Cojuangco political partnership,” said Mariano.
Mariano, also president of the peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, said the tribunal’s decision “perpetuates injustice to small coconut farmers.”
He said the coco levy fund was a concrete proof of how the Marcos regime levied a tax on small coconut farmers to expand Cojuangco’s business empire.
Mariano said that “no amount of judicial swindling can legitimize Cojuangco’s plunder of the coco levy funds.”
He said the President’s “no comment” on the issue raised more questions, considering that Cojuangco is the latter’s uncle.
Enrile backs Danding
On the other hand, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile defended Cojuangco, whom he described as a “friend,” saying the businessman “bought (SMC) shares for himself” using a loan from the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) of which Cojuangco was president.
“What’s the beef if Danding was paying for those shares to the UCPB?” Enrile asked at the weekly “Kapihan sa Senado” media forum. “How can you say he’s not the owner (of the shares)?”
Farmers accused Cojuangco of using money collected from them by the government in the form of a coco levy in buying SMC shares.
DOSRI issue
Enrile said it was yet to be determined if the purchase violated the DOSRI (directors, officers, stockholders and related interests) because Cojuangco was the president of the UCPB then.
“He paid the loan. He didn’t steal it or swindle the bank. He borrowed the money from the trust fund and he paid for it,” Enrile said.
Enrile recalled that Cojuangco was able to convince other stakeholders to form a controlling bloc consisting of a total share of 46 percent of SMC. Of these shares, 20 percent were bought by Cojuangco himself while the rest belonged to 11 corporations, according to the senator.
Enrile, then chair of the UCPB, said he “knew of these transactions” because “I handled them.”
“It’s possible that the actual amount drawn to cover the borrowings of Danding and the 11 corporations came from the trust fund,” he said. “So the shares were bought by Danding. If Danding was paying those shares to the UCPB to retire his borrowings, how can you say that he’s not the owner?”
He added: “Where that money came from, I do not know because when the bank lends money, it does not identify the money that is used for lending. There is no earmark for money. They’re comingled.”