Ex-SolGen Chavez challenges SC ruling on Danding's SMC shares

Former Solicitor General Frank Chavez on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to overturn its decision upholding the legitimacy of business tycoon Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr.'s 20-percent stake in San Miguel Corporation. Chavez served as the government's chief lawyer from 1987 to 1992, during the time of former President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, mother of incumbent President Benigno Aquino III. Mrs. Aquino rose to power after the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled the dictatorship of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos. Cojuangco and Mrs. Aquino are cousins, but despite the family ties, Cojuangco is perceived to be a close associate of Marcos. Chavez is filing his pleading not as a direct party to the case, but as an intervenor. Chavez told GMA News Online that he presented to the court new documents that warrant the reversal of the SC's April 12, 2011 decision that favored Cojuangco. "I'm filing this as a citizen-intercessor. I owe it to the coconut farmers. These are documents that have not been brought to light yet. There is a June 3, 1986 COA [Commission on Audit] report that details the siphoning of the coconut levy funds. These documents I'm bringing out now would show that Cojuangco carried shares for Marcos," said Chavez. Last April 12, the Supreme Court ruled that Cojuangco's 20-percent stake in SMS was not ill-gotten and do not form part of the so-called coconut levy fund — the taxes exacted from coconut farmers during the time of the Marcos. The PCGG had failed to substantiate its claim that Cojuangco acquired those shares illegally, the SC said. The commission had alleged that when Cojuangco acquired the shares in 1983, he — as an officer and board member of the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) — violated his obligations toward the clients under the relationship known as a fiduciary trust. The PCGG then claimed ownership of his 20-percent equity in SMC, saying the shares were bought using the coco levy funds, the same money Cojuangco and Marcos-era officials allegedly used to acquire UCPB and other companies. — RSJ, GMA News