By Lilybeth G. Ison
MANILA, Sept. 17 (PNA) — The United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) has said it respects the Supreme Court (SC) decision junking its petition claiming ownership over a portion of the bloc of shares in San Miguel Corp. (SMC) but clarified “it is not after any portion of the coco levy funds that were ruled by the government for the benefit of coconut farmers and the development of the coconut industry.”
“UCPB respects the Supreme Court’s decision ordering the dismissal of the Bank’s petition for declaratory relief or request for a legal clarification on UCPB’s rights to its minority shares of stock in the CIIF Oil Mills & indirectly in an 11 percent portion of the sequestered San Miguel Corporation shares which were ruled to be owned by the government for the benefit of coconut farmers and the development of the coco industry,” said UCPB in a statement emailed to the Philippines News Agency.
UCPB, however, clarified that “it is not claiming any part of the coco levy funds or assets.”
“The Bank respectfully recognizes that these (coco levy) are government-owned. Likewise, it is not claiming the investments that the Bank made as Administrator of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF).”
Instead, it said “it is merely protecting its own shareholders, including the majority Government shareholder, and preserving bank assets which were used to invest in the oil mills & SMC shares.”
“UCPB will continue to exhaust all possible legal remedies to affirm the Bank’s position that since the Bank used its own funds, and not coco levy funds, to invest in the oil mills and SMC shares, it is excluded from the earlier SC coco levy decision,” it added.
The SC earlier junked the petition of the UCPB and United Coconut Planters Life Assurance Corp. claiming ownership over a portion of the block of shares in SMC bought with coconut levy funds.
“All coco levy funds, including the SMC shares and their proceeds not yet transferred to the National Treasury, should now be transferred without further delay,” said Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
Meanwhile, UCPB said it has administered the coco levy funds and grown it exponentially from PhP 2.57 billion in 1977 to PhP 65.48 billion by end-2014 for the benefit of the coconut farmers.
In compliance with the Supreme Court’s decision that the funds are legally owned by the government for the benefit of the coconut farmers and the coconut industry, UCPB said the funds were remitted in two tranches in October 2012 and June 2015 amounting to PhP 70 billion to the Bureau of Treasury for its safekeeping.
“Thus, it would be out of character for the Bank to lay claim on these funds now when UCPB dutifully grew the funds in its role as administrator, not as owner of the funds,” it said.
“UCPB has worked closely with coconut farmers over the years. It is a fact that the UCPB Board of Directors is composed of representatives from government agencies and the coconut farmers sector who all safeguard the interests of the coconut farmers,” it added.
UCPB further stressed that it “will not do anything detrimental to the coconut farmers sector.”
“In its plan to exhaust all possible legal remedies regarding the Supreme Court’s decision, it only wishes to assert the Bank’s position that, aside from the coco levy funds used to acquire a controlling interest in the oil mills and SMC shares, it also used its own corporate funds to invest in a minority interest in the same oil mills and SMC shares. In doing so, it is fulfilling its fiduciary duty to, and protecting the interests of, its stakeholders, including the coconut farmers and the government,” it noted. (PNA)