Sugar farmers buck BSP-PNB ‘sweetheart deal’

It is amazing how sugar farmers, some 4,000 of whom are members of the Planters Against Plunder in the Sugar Industry, have been frantically trying to stop the sale of Philippine National Bank (PNB) shares worth P16 billion on Aug. 12.

Top officials of PASPI, Manny Lacson and businessman-banker-farmer Titus Abello, earlier presented the plight of the sugarmen to Finance Secretary Margarito Teves.

Lacson, Abello and other key officials of the organization were, however, not in Manila for the second round of talks with Teves over the PNB sale.

There is a twist to the story of how the sugar farmers, who had been extended loans by the defunct Republic Planters Bank, purportedly owed the P3 billion to the PNB.

The other side of the issue is RA 7202, or the Sugar Restitution Law of 1991, which commands the government to restitute and not take a contrary adversarial interest against the victims of plunder of the sugar industry during the Marcos dictatorship.

The battle for the implementation of that law remains unsolved, and the sugar farmers still have to have their loans recomputed and restituted for excess payments. These loans were computed at a very high rate of 36 percent per annum.

History

In 1991, the PNB entered into a dacion en page arrangement with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which accepted as payment the loan advances of some 4,000 sugar industry workers from the Republic Planters Bank at an agreed value of P3 billion. The BSP later appointed PNB as the collecting agent of these loans, with a promised commission of 10 percent from the total amount collected.

The PNB took over the RPB after EDSA 1 and according to the books of the BSP, the collateral release value of all the RPB loan accounts was P5 billion.

In 1997, the BSP and PNB inked another memorandum of agreement, which allowed the PNB to buy these assets back for the same value of P3 billion under the following conditions;

1. Payment shall be due only in 2013 with no additional interest or other charges;

2. An escrow fund will be established and deposited with the PNB consisting of all the RPB sugar loans collected minus the 10 percent PNB collector’s fee;

3. By 2001, the PNB would source the P3 billion payable to BSP from the money collected from the sugar loans and place this in the escrow fund.

In short, the PASPI officials contended that all windfall profits shall consequently accrue in favor of the soon-to-be-fully-privatized PNB, without a centavo for the BSP.

The PASPI contends that the P16-billion bench price set for the sale of the PNB must be grossly undervalued and possibly computed without proper disclosure and consideration of this still-to-be-booked sources of very substantial profits for PNB.

The PASPI officials said the 4,000 sugar farmers have been offering similar deals to the said banks but the offers were never considered.

The question now is why did the BSP make a turnaround and agreed to accept PNB’s offer to buy back the loans by merely paying the collateral release value of P3 billion, and why not grant a similar deal to the affected borrowers.

Roberto Abello’s computation show that the collateral release value of that RPB account per the BSP books is P1.7 million, principal and interests included.

If the BSP allowed the affected sugar loan borrowers to pay their respective loans by only paying the collateral release value, the BSP shall realize the payment and settlement of its P3-billion exposure much sooner than 2013. Most, if not all the sugar loan borrowers, will expectedly jump at the chance to pay their liabilities at such a discount.

What happens to the BSP should the courts uphold the claims of the sugar farmers that their loans were so tainted with multiple acts of fraud committed by former Ambassador Roberto Benedicto and declare them not collectible at all?

Abello and Lacson hinted that the PASPI may be forced to file a motion in court to include the BSP and PNB as party defendants in their effort to recover what was stolen from them and to hold Benedicto and company accountable for their crimes.

Well, the PASPI members are waging a last-ditch effort by appealing for help from Finance Secretary Teves.

The outcome of their negotiations to stop the sale of PNB will be determined before the weekend.

Meanwhile, the 4,000 sugar farmers are crossing their fingers that they can still redeem their properties before the PNB forecloses them.

Reply From Comelec Regional Director

Western Visayas Commission on Elections officer Vicente Garbone challenged Michael Angelo Zuce yesterday to go to court instead of engaging in trial by publicity.

Gaborne stressed that he was not among those specifically mentioned by Zuce as having gone to the residence of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in La Vista, Quezon City and received money purportedly from jueteng lord Bong Pineda’s wife, Mayor Lilia Pineda of Lubao, Pampanga, before the 2004 presidential polls.

Gaborne stressed that he had never seen Zuce nor received any jueteng money.

He called Zuce’s allegations outrageous and challenged the former staff member of Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Joey Rufino to file his claims of criminal acts before the court instead of going to the press and engaging in trial by publicity.

Incidentally, Gaborne has a reputation of being a low-key Comelec official in Negros Occidental where he served once as provincial officer before he was promoted to regional Comelec supervisor.

Incidentally, 148 scholars of the Sugar Industry Foundation Inc. completed their college degrees last school year. One of them graduated summa cum laude, three magna cum laude, and four cum laude.

The summa cum laude graduate was 20-year-old Corazon Taneza, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education (BSEED) from the Colegio de San Agustin-Bacolod.