Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 10) — Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and Sentro Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo (Sentra) on Thursday denounced the dismissal of the ₱840.7 million graft complaint against chief presidential legal counsel Juan Ponce Enrile and several others over the coco levy fund controversy.
“Sana naisip din ng Korte Suprema ang kapakanan at kinabukasan ng mga magniniyog at ng kanilang mga tagapagmana na lampas limang dekada nang naghihintay na maibalik sa kanila at mapakinabangan man lang nila ang pondo ng coco levy,” KMP chairperson Rafael Mariano said.
[Translation: I hope the Supreme Court also thought about the welfare and future of coconut farmers and their heirs who have been waiting for more than five decades for the coco levy fund to be returned to them and to at least benefit them.]
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Ombudsman to dismiss the complaint for violation of Republic Act No. 3019 filed against Enrile, Jose Concepcion, Rolando dela Cuesta, Narciso Pineda, and Danilo Ursua “due to the violation of the constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases.”
READ: SC junks graft charges vs. Enrile, others over coco levy fund use
The court ruled that the 33-year-old case was a clear violation of the respondents’ constitutional right to speedy disposition of cases.
The case stemmed from the complaint filed by the Office of the Solicitor General before the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) in February 1990.
The other respondents in the case — Eduardo M. Cojuangco Jr., Jose R. Eleazar Jr., Maria Clara Lobregat, and Augusto Orosa — have already died
The complaint alleged that the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Cojuangco’s Agricultural Investors, Inc. (AII) was unfavorable to the National Investment and Development Corporation (NIDC) as the NIDC was obligated to promptly pay AII with money from the Coconut Industry Development Fund (CIDF) but AII was only required to produce the target number of seednuts. The NIDC was also required to use the CIDF if it fails to do its obligations.
When the CIDF was depleted after many changes in its administration, the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), as its administrator, terminated the MOA with AII.
Enrile, Concepcion, Dela Cuesta, Pineda and Ursua were board members of the UCPB.
Enrile and other respondents allegedly allowed a March 1983 decision of a board of arbitrators to lapse, supposedly resulting in the siphoning off of P840 million from the CIDF to the AII. This was the basis for the filing of the graft case against them.
The complaint said “respondent Cojuangco, Jr. took advantage of his close relationship with then President Ferdinand E. Marcos for his own personal and business interests through the issuance of favorable decrees.”
The collection of coconut levy funds began in 1971 after former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr imposed taxes on coconut farmers.
Funds were pooled to the Coconut Investment Fund (CIF) to provide money for the development of the coconut industry.
For every 100 kilograms of coconut products, farmers were charged ₱0.55. In exchange, they were given a receipt to be converted into shares of stock of the Coconut Investment Company.
But instead, the funds were allegedly used for businesses owned by Marcos cronies. Until now, coconut farmers have not received their share in the investment.
In a statement sent to CNN Philippines, Sentra Executive Director Atty. Jobert Pahilga said justice for coconut farmers is ill-fated now that Marcoses are back in power.
“We purposely did not include President Marcos in the blame not because he was just recently elected as president but because the plunder of the funds happened at the time of his dictator father,” he said. “Now that he is the President, the small coconut farmers can forever say goodbye to the coco levy funds which were collected from their sweat and blood.”
KMP said that the coco levy fund will be forever regarded as the “scam of the century” perpetrated by the Marcoses and their cronies.
