Thursday, July 10, 2008 Cojuangcos refuse to turn over gov't-seized share in PLDT
BUSINESSMAN Antonio "Tonyboy" Cojuangco's Prime Holdings, Inc. (PHI) has refused to hand over to the Sandiganbayan the billions of pesos in dividends from government-sequestered shares in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) issued to the holding company.
According to anti-graft court sheriffs, they were prevented from collecting the money for the government after PHI lawyers showed them a copy of their petition filed with the Supreme Court (SC) seeking a review of the Sandiganbayan ruling forfeiting the subject dividends in favor of the government.
The PHI petition also asked the SC to restrain the anti-graft court from enforcing the writ of execution on the PLDT case.
"We were informed by their (PHI) lawyers about the pending petition for certiorari with prayer to issue a temporary restraining order on this court's order that they filed with the SC last June 30," said Sandiganbayan sheriff Albert de la Cruz.
De la Cruz said they are waiting for further orders from the anti-graft court's Fourth Division on what to do.
"For now, we are barred from serving the writ of execution. We cannot get the seized amount unless all legal issues are cleared," he said.
The Fourth Division earlier gave PHI until last July 7 to turn over to government the cash dividends and stock earnings it received from the 111,415 shares of the Philippine Telecommunications Investments Corp. (PTIC) in PLDT, which were found to be part of the ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos family.
The writ of execution was issued after the court denied last June 13 the motion for reconsideration on its November 7, 2007 decision awarding the stock earnings of the PTIC shares to government.
The motion for reconsideration was filed by PHI, Cojuangco and his mother Imelda on November 28 last year. Tonyboy, who was former PLDT chairman and director, represents the estate of the late Ramon Cojuangco, his father, in Civil Case No. 0002.
In its June 13, 2008 resolution, the Fourth Division ordered PHI, which used to have majority control of PTIC, "to account, deliver and transmit all cash, property and stock dividends issued on the PTIC shares."
It also ordered PHI to submit to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) all records and documents pertaining to the shares and paid dividends of PTIC.
The total amount of the dividends, the court said, would be computed "from the date of sequestration on May 9, 1986, plus legal interests they may have earned from the date they became due."
PCGG officials said most recent assessments place the value of the PTIC dividends to at least P8.5 billion.
However, Senator Joker Arroyo, while still a member of the House of Representatives in 1993, declared that the PTIC dividends were already somewhere in the vicinity of US$500 million.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in March last year, estimated the PTIC dividends at P35.1 billion.
On November 7, 2007, the Sandiganbayan held that the PHI was beneficially owned by the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, citing a previous SC ruling.
"The judgment is very clear. Marcos was the owner of PHI and the PTIC shares registered under PHI forms part of the ill-gotten wealth and must be recovered by the Republic," the anti-graft court declared.
The SC had declared PHI a dummy corporation of Marcos, which was used to control the PLDT during the dictatorship through the PTIC's ownership of shares in PLDT.
On December 14, 2006, the SC ruled with finality in favor of the government and directed the reconveyance of the subject PTIC shares registered in the name of the PHI after finding out that those shares were actually owned by Marcos.
The high court upheld the government's claim that the PHI and PTIC were dummy companies set up by Marcos using Jose Yao Campos and Tonyboy's father to own shares in PLDT.
The PCGG said that at the time the case was filed by the commission against PTIC and PHI in 1986, right after the first Edsa revolution, the PTIC controlled 28 percent of the outstanding shares in PLDT.
The 111,415 shares now comprise only a 6.4 percent stake in PLDT, the PCGG said.
According to the commission, in 2005 alone, PTIC declared cash dividends amounting to P911 million. Of this amount, PHI received P377.33 million, it added.
Through the PTIC shares, the elder Cojuangco chaired PLDT for decades until his death in 1984. Tonyboy succeeded him through his control via the PTIC shares.
In 1998, Tonyboy relinquished his chairmanship and control of the telecom giant when he sold 44 percent of PTIC to the First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong. He, however, stayed on as PLDT director until 2006 when the SC handed down its final verdict on the case. (Sunnex)
