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The Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped the implementation of two executive orders issued by President Benigno Aquino III covering the P93-billion coconut levy fund.
The high tribunal, sitting en banc, issued a temporary restraining order against EOs 179 and 180, SC Public Information Office chief and spokesman Theodore Te told reporters in a briefing.
Malacañang was also ordered to comment on the petition filed by the Confederation of Coconut Farmers Organization.
In EO 180, Aquino directed the concerned agencies to secure the government’s rights and interests when it comes to the coco levy assets.
In particular, the Office of the Solicitor General, the Presidential Commission on Good Government, and the agencies under the Department of Justice (DOJ) must file the proper pleadings to safeguard the government’s interests and rights to the coco levy fund.
The government agencies were also directed to deposit the coco levy assets with the Bureau of the Treasury.
EO 180 was issued in March 2015, three months after the Supreme Court (SC) issued a final judgment which allowed the government to use the coco levy fund.
In EO 179, the PCGG was tasked to coordinate with other government agencies to identify all known coco levy assets lo later than 60 days when the order takes effect.
The PCGG, with the Office of the Solicitor General, was also asked to submit a certified report to the Treasury Bureau, the Commission on Audit, and the Office of the President identifying and accounting for all the coco levy assets.
In 2013, the SC awarded the national government a block of the shares of stock in conglomerate San Miguel Corp., with a caveat that proceeds from the shares should be used only for the benefit of coconut farmers and the industry. The money used to buy San Miguel shares was established to have came from the coconut levy funds.
The controversial fund came from taxes imposed on coconut farmers during the Martial Law years by alleged cronies of then President Ferdinand Marcos – including Aquino's uncle, Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco.
From an initial estimate of P9.695 billion in 1986, the PCGG noted in its latest report that the coco levy funds have since ballooned to P93 billion. – VS, GMA News
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More from: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/513266/economy/agricultureandmining/sc-stops-pnoy-eos-on-coco-levy-fund
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