The Philippines’ anti-graft court Sandiganbayan ordered United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corp. (COCOLIFE) to return United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) shares to the government, ruling they are coconut levy assets.
The court’s Second Division, in a 27-page decision released on Sunday, rejected COCOLIFE’s petition for declaratory relief, which argued the shares were not covered by the Coconut Farmers and Industry Fund (CFITF) Act.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) had sought the return of 255,823,678 UCPB shares, alleging COCOLIFE was formed and funded using coconut levy funds.
“UCPB’s shares of stock in COCOLIFE are reconveyable coconut levy assets within the purview of the CFITF Act,” the Sandiganbayan said.
“The subject shares of UCPB in COCOLIFE fall squarely within the broad definition of ‘coconut levy assets’ as defined in the CFITF Act,” it said.
The court cited the CFITF Act, which mandates the reconveyance of coconut levy assets to the government, regardless of whether a final Supreme Court declaration of ownership exists.
“The CFITF Act clearly distinguishes between coconut levy assets in the first and second paragraphs. The distinction made by the law thus implies that reconveyance of coconut levy assets does not require a final declaration by the Supreme Court, that these assets belong to the Philippine government,” the Sandiganbayan said.
The court dismissed COCOLIFE’s argument that the shares’ ownership remained unresolved due to the dismissal of a related civil case, citing previous Supreme Court rulings that established the shares were bought with coconut levy funds.
“The Supreme Court reiterated its ruling in COCOFED vs. Republic, stating that plainly enough, the coconut levy funds are public funds,” the court said.
The Sandiganbayan ordered COCOLIFE to “immediately issue certificates of stocks in the name of the Republic of the Philippines” for the UCPB shares.