Cojuangco seeks oral argument in SC over ownership claim in Bulletin

Businessman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to immediately set the oral argument on his claims of ownership of the 46,626 shares of stocks in Bulletin Publishing Corp. which were earlier ordered forfeited in favor of the government by the Sandiganbayan.

In a four-page manifestation filed through his laywer Estelito Mendoza, Cojuangco told the High Court that he is joining the motion filed last Aug. 5 by the Estate of Hans M. Menzi and Hans Menzi Holdings and Management Inc. (HMHMI) seeking the immediate setting of oral argument on the disputed Bulletin shares.

In its Aug. 5 motion, the Menzi group said the legal issues before the High Court are numerous and far-reaching which involved, among others, "questions of public policy, such as the validity and efficacy of a sequestration writ issued by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG); ownership issues pertaining to the one of the largest and the oldest print media enterprise in the country, the Bulletin Publishing Corp.; procedural law issues on the scope of judicial authority of the Sandiganbayan and varying interpretations of three previously decided cases of the High Court."

"All told, this muddle of legal questions presents a novel case, the results of which will be of transcendental importance to jurisprudence and will serve as a guide for future sequestration cases. The Court may note that most of these kinds of cases, only now being resolved by the Sandiganbayan, are on their way to appellate review by this honorable court. While many of these cases have presented interlocutory issues earlier decided by this honorable court, it is only now that full and final decisions, on their merits, are reaching the Court, as it is with the instant case" Cojuangco said.

In an 87-page memorandum filed through Mendoza last May, Cojuangco said that he is the lawful owner of the 46,626 shares of stocks in Bulletin Publishing Corp. that were earlier ordered forfeited in favor of the government by the Sandiganbayan.

Cojuangco said that his 46,626 shares of stocks in Bulletin are not ill-gotten wealth of the late President Marcos and his wife, former First Lady Imelda Marcos.

Cojuangco is seeking the reversal of the March 14, 2002 ruling of the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division declaring that his 46,626 shares of stocks in Bulletin are part of the ill-gotten wealth amassed by the Marcos couple during their more than 20-year rule.

"Even assuming, for purposes of argument, that the shares of stocks in Bulletin Publishing Corp. registered in the name of Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., are owned by the Marcoses and that said shares of stock constitute ill-gotten wealth, the Republic is unable to state how President Marcos and respondent Imelda Marcos became the owners of the Bulletin shares, whether they purchased the shares from the late Hans Menzi, whether the late Hans Menzi gave them the shares freely and voluntarily, or whether the Marcos spouses took the shares from the late Hans Menzi against his will," Cojuangco said.

Cojuangco said that the government also failed to allege, much less prove, that government funds or funds belonging to the Republic were used to acquire the Bulletin shares.

"It is clear, therefore, that the Republic did not allege, much less prove, that it has a proprietary interest in the Bulletin shares registered in the name of Eduardo Cojuangco. Even assuming that the shares of stock in Bulletin Publishing Corp. subject of Civil Case 0022 are owned by the Marcoses, no loss or injury on the part of the Republic on account of such ownership has been alleged or proven," Cojuangco said.