PCGG chief to quit if coco levy issue not settled this year

Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman Camilo Sabio yesterday said he will resign if no agreement is reached by the end of 2006 among the government, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) chairman Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco and coconut farmers on the estimated P130-billion coco levy funds.

"I am very optimistic that something could be done. If nothing would be done within this year, I’d have to resign as chairman and I would have to ask the President to accept the resignation of the members of the commission. Something must be done for the sake of the farmers," Sabio told cable channel ANC in an interview.

"As far as PCGG is concerned, if the consensus of the farmers is a compromise agreement, then they should discuss the terms and conditions," he stressed.

Sabio, a lawyer by profession, has been pressing for a compromise agreement between the government, the farmers and Cojuangco on the coco levy funds collected during the Marcos regime.

Sabio said coconut farmers in 10 regional consultations led by the Bishop-Ulama group have expressed willingness to enter into a compromise agreement with Cojuangco.

Cojuangco has been contesting the government’s ownership of shares in SMC and earlier said he is not open to a compromise. But Sabio expressed hope that Cojuangco will change his mind.

"In spite of everything that has been said, of everything I have read or heard about Ambassador Cojuangco, the thing is I think he is a patriotic Filipino," Sabio said, referring to the SMC chairman.

If the farmers present to the PCGG a compromise agreement that is not contrary to law, Sabio said they will approve it and the matter would be submitted to the Sandiganbayan for approval and then to the Supreme Court for final approval.

Sabio noted that farmers have already intimated to President Arroyo of the slow progress of the case.

The case was filed in July 1987. But to date, the real owners of coconut levy-funded enterprises, including the San Miguel shares, have not been named.