‘Stop government use of P700-M coco levy funds’

The Philippine Coconut Producers Federation (Cocofed) asked the Sandiganbayan yesterday to issue an injunction on the go—vernment’s use of P700 million in coconut levy funds which President Arroyo ordered released through the United Coconut Planters Bank (UPCB) recently.

The Abello, Concepcion, Regala and Cruz (ACCRA) law office, which claims to represent more than a million coconut farmers, said the release of the funds last Jan. 20 was a "fraudulent diversion" of the coco levy’s earnings.

This, despite the Sandiganbayan’s 2000 ruling barring the disposal of the funds, including interest, while they are under litigation, the law office said.

"The property under sequestration or the fruits thereof may not be disposed of," it said in a 15-page urgent motion.

The release of the coco levy funds at this stage, it argued, would be an "injustice," saying that "in the event that their ownership over these sequestered assets and their fruits is ultimately confirmed, those illegally and fraudulently diverted assets would have been thoroughly wasted."

Without any court sanction, the Cocofed lawyers said the diversion of the earnings of the UCPB, the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) and the 14 CIIF holding companies is a "blatant contravention" of the Sandiganbayan’s 2000 ruling.

"As stockholders of record of the UCPB, the CIIF oil mills and the ultimate owners of the 14 CIIF holding companies and their SMC (San Miguel Corp.) shares, the (Cocofed farmers) are entitled to the preservation of their assets and earnings pending the adjudication," the lawyers said in their urgent motion.

The Cocofed asked the anti-graft court’s first division to subpoena executives of the UCPB and CIIF to explain why no injunction should be issued on the use of the P700-million coco levy funds.