PHILSTAR FILE PHOTOTHE PHILIPPINES’ anti-graft court has ordered the surrender of multi-million stocks from an insurance company tied to the coconut levy fund controversy.
In a 27-page decision released on Feb. 24, the Sandiganbayan Second Division ruled the 255 million shares of a now-defunct state bank in an insurance company should be surrendered to the government, citing a 2021 law creating a trust fund for coconut farmers.
In a ruling, penned by Associate Justice Edgardo M. Caldona, the insurance company was directed to cancel existing stock certificates and issue new certificates with the same number of shares in the name of the Republic of the Philippines.
Signed into law by ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte, Republic Act No. 11524, the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund (CFITF) Act, cited that coco levy assets declared by the Supreme Court as belonging to the state should be given to the government.
“The shares of stock… are reconveyable coconut levy assets within the purview of the CFITF Act,” the ruling stated.
The petition stems from a complaint filed for the recovery of alleged ill-gotten wealth, in which the Philippine Commission on Good Government had claimed the insurance company was created or funded using coconut levy funds. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
