[In the news] Supreme Court affirms ruling on coco levy: SMC’s 24% goes to government- INQUIRER.net

Supreme Court affirms ruling on coco levy: SMC’s 24% goes to government By Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer January 25, 2012 The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed a 2004 ruling of the Sandiganbayan antigraft court that awarded a 24-percent block of shares in San Miguel Corp. registered in the name of the Coconut Industry…

Human Rights Online Philippines

January 25, 2012

1–2 minutes

Antonio Carpio, Arturo Brion, coconut farmers, coconut industry, Diosdado Peralta, levy funds, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sandiganbayan, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of the United States, Teresita de Castro

Supreme Court affirms ruling on coco levy: SMC’s 24% goes to government
By Jerome Aning, Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 25, 2012

The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed a 2004 ruling of the Sandiganbayan antigraft court that awarded a 24-percent block of shares in San Miguel Corp. registered in the name of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) and its holding companies, to the government, which holds it in trust for the country’s coconut farmers.

The public information office of the Supreme Court has yet to release a hard copy of the decision, penned by Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., as of press time.
However, reliable sources in the high tribunal said the voting went 11 to nil, with Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo de Castro and Diosdado Peralta inhibiting and Justice Arturo Brion on official leave.

Carpio was one of the petitioners in the case to declare the coconut levy funds as public funds. De Castro and Peralta were members of the Sandiganbayan division that decided the case.

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