Coconut farmers seek forfeiture case vs Conjuangco

Wednesday, June 22, 2011
MANILA – A farmers’ group plans to file forfeiture case against businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. to claim a 20 percent stake in the San Miguel Corp. that they say was bought using public funds.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled with finality that Cojuangco owned the shares and they were not bought with funds levied from coconut farmers from 1973 to 1982.
The court said it will no longer hear any appeal, but Joey Faustino, executive director of the Coconut Industry Reform Movement (Coir), said the group will file a motion for reconsideration.
If that is denied, he said, the group will file a forfeiture case against Cojuangco.
Romeo Royandoyan, executive director of farmers’ group Centro Saka Inc., said the case is not a lost cause yet. However, he said that Centro Saka lawyers have yet to meet to discuss their next step.
“On the other hand, the protests will go on,” Faustino told Sun.Star in a text message.
He said they cannot allow the justice system “to serve the interests of the rich and influential as against the poor coconut farmers.”
Both Centro Saka and Coir are members of the Multi-sectoral Task Force for Coco Levy Recovery, which also counts former senators Jovito Salonga and Wigberto Tañada on its roster.
In May, Tañada led the filing of an appeal of an April 12 SC decision ruling declaring Cojuangco the rightful owner of the SMC shares.
At the filing of the appeal, Vicente Fabe, national chairman of Pakisama, a farmers’ coalition with a claimed membership of 66,400, called the Supreme Court decision a mistake and a big blow to coconut farmers.
He warned that the High Court favoring Cojuangco would lead the nation away from President Benigno Aquino III’s campaign promise of “tuwid na daan (straight path)”.
“This will lead us down a bad path, an evil path,” Fabe said in a speech in front of the Supreme Court. He said if the farmers lose the appeal — which they did — they would hold massive protests against it.
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, son of former senator Wigberto Tañada, lamented the latest Supreme Court decision, saying “the poor once again lost, and the balance tilted in favor of the rich.”
Rep. Tañada, who represents the fourth district of Quezon province, a major coconut producing area in the country, strongly noted that the Supreme Court’s decision “is a most serious error amounting to gross abuse of discretion”.
“The decision is not supported by facts, law, nor evidence. The SC even contradicted its previous ruling that the shares are affected by public interest. In its earlier rulings, it already stated that they are prima facie public funds,” he remarked.
He was referring to a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that put the burden of proof on Cojuangco, who had to prove that he did not use public funds for his own interests.
The court’s decision on Tuesday noted, however, that the petitioners failed to prove that the SMC shares were bought with the coco levy funds.
The coco levy fund was meant for a coconut replanting program and a seed farm to provide farmers with free seeds. The Multi-sectoral Task Force for Coco Levy Recovery, said Cojuangco, instead used that money to buy up shares in SMC.
The groups are also contesting a larger block of shares, 27 percent, that they said Cojuangco also bought with coco levy funds. That case, both groups said, is “definitely” still alive. (Jonathan de Santos/Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)
Source: http://www.clarkwinecenter.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=13133&action=edit&message=6

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