Enrile to govt on coco levy appeal: Good luck

On the government’s plan to appeal the Supreme Court decision favoring businessman Eduardo “Danding" Cojuangco Jr. in the coco levy issue, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has this to say: Good luck. Coco levy is a tax exacted from coconut farmers from 1973 to 1982, during the term of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Cojuangco and Marcos-era officials bought the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) using coco levy funds. In 1983, Cojuangco — through the UCPB — acquired shares of stock in SMC, prompting the government to claim that coco levy funds were used for the acquisition. During that time, Cojuangco was an officer and board member of the UCPB while Enrile, who was also one of the respondents in the case, was chairman of the bank’s board. The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Cojuangco, uncle of incumbent President Benigno Aquino III, is the rightful owner of the contested shares in SMC. The government, through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), is planning to appeal the case. Enrile explained that when Cojuangco borrowed money from the UCPB to buy SMC shares, it was never clarified whether the money was part of the coco levy fund. “Where that money came from I do not know. A bank, when it lends money, does not identify the money that is used for lending. That’s the responsibility of the bank," he said during a weekly forum at the Senate. He noted, however, that this did not really matter because Cojuangco paid back the money he borrowed from the bank. “If Danding was paying for those shares to the UCPB, how can you say that he is not owner?" he said. “If he paid the loan, hindi naman niya ninakaw yun (he did not steal that). Danding was the one who bought the shares for himself, I was there. I knew all of these transactions. I dealt with them. I handled most of them," he added. In a statement, Sen. Joker Arroyo asked why it took the courts such a long time to resolve the SMC shares case. “This case passed through seven high courts... why did it take our judicial system that long only to disappoint the coconut farmers despite the Constitutional injunction that cases should be disposed within a time-frame?" he asked. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMA News