Unang beses ko sa buwang ito na sumilip muli sa inq7.net upang alamin ang balita. Ito ang bumulaga sa akin. Kung sasabihin sa pa-konyong pamamaraan, "pare, this made my day!" Kaninang umaga kasi, natuklasan kong sinabotahe ang mga kompyuter namin sa Matanglawin. Kaya heto ang nagpasaya sa araw ko ngayon:"

Cojuangco loses UCPB shares to gov't, farmers
Posted:0:46 AM (Manila Time) | Jul. 12, 2003
By Dona Z. Pazzibugan
Inquirer News Service with INQ7.net, GMA 7 and Agence France-Presse

ENDING a protracted 16-year court battle, the Sandiganbayan anti-graft court ruled Friday that tycoon Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco had illegally acquired the United Coconut Planters Bank with coconut levy funds and thus forfeited his shareholdings in the bank in favor of the government.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government hailed the ruling, which observers said could have a potential impact on Cojuangco's management control over San Miguel Corp., the country's top brewer and one of its largest companies.

Cojuangco said on GMA Network's late-evening newscast "Saksi" that he had not been given a chance by the court to give his side in the case since the case had been in the courts for 16 years without a pre-trial investigation.

Cojuangco's partymates in the Nationalist People's Coalition, which he founded and in which he remains chairman-emeritus, questioned the timing of the court's decision, GMA-7 reported.

Cojuangco is being touted as a possible presidential candidate in the May 2004 elections. He has been conducting public consultations but has not publicly made known his decision. Earlier, the NPC broke away from the People Power Coalition (PPC) which is dominated by the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrat (Lakas-CMD).

The landmark ruling came 19 months after the Supreme Court in another landmark decision in 2001 ruled that the coco levy funds were "public in character" though it left it up to the Sandiganbayan to decide who owned the assets acquired with the funds.

The high court directed the Sandiganbayan to decide the cases early this year.

The peso value of the ruling was unknown, but observers said the decision could have a potential impact on Cojuangco's management control of San Miguel Corp., the food and beverage conglomerate that is one of the country's largest companies.

The UCPB is the administrator of a 27-percent voting bloc in the SMC. Cojuangco, who sits as chairman and chief executive, controls another 20 percent of SMC.

The Sandiganbayan ruling covers 72.2 percent of the shares of stock of UCPB, a commercial bank that has been suffering from capital deficiency for the past three years.

"The abovementioned shares of stock of the [UCPB] transferred to defendant Cojuangco are hereby declared conclusively owned by the plaintiff Republic of the Philippines," the Sandiganbayan ruling read.

In the 84-page ruling penned by first division chairman associate justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, the court ruled that Cojuangco and officers of the Philippine Coconut Federation (Cocofed) led by Zamboanga City mayor Ma. Clara Lobregat illegally used funds from the levy to acquire 72.2 percent of the bank.

The government sequestered both the UCPB and the 27-percent SMC share bloc in 1986, shortly after the Edsa people power revolution that toppled the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos from power.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government, set up to recover the allegedly illegally acquired wealth of Marcos and his associates, has been battling Cojuangco for decades in court over the coconut levy funds.

It alleges that Cojuangco had illegally acquired the shares by illegally using proceeds of the coconut levy fund.

Both the Marcos estate and Cojuangco, an alleged crony of the dictator, deny the charge.

The funds, now amounting to 100 billion pesos (two billion dollars), were collected from coconut farmers as a forced tax through a Marcos decree between 1973 to 1982. Marcos appointed Cojuangco as the administrator of the funds.

In Friday's ruling, the court declared as unconstitutional Marcos' Presidential Decree No. 755 which allowed Cojuangco and Cocofed to use the Coconut Consumer Stabilization Fund (CCSF) to acquire the UCPB, formerly the First United Bank.

The court said PD 775 "did not validate" the May 25, 1975 agreement between Cojuangco and the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA).

The ruling declared null and void the transfer of the shares of stock of FUB (now UCPB) by the PCA to Cojuangco, "which cost the PCA more than 10 million pesos from the CCSF in 1975."

It therefore declared FUB/UCPB shares of stock transfered to Cojuangco "conclusively owned by the Republic of the Philippines".

It said the 72.2 percent shares of the UCPB were "paid for by the PCA with public funds later charged to the coco levy funds, particularly the CCSF".

The court also ruled that Lobregat and other Cocofed officials had not legally obtained title of ownership over the UCPB shares, the so-called "farmers' UCPB shares," by virtue of PD 755.

The shares, constituting 64.98 percent of the UCPB shares of stock and which formed part of the sequestered 72.2 percent shares, were also declared "conclusively owned" by the government.

The court said Section 1 of PD755 was unconstitutional for "having allowed the CCSF to benefit directly private interests by the outright and unconditional grant of absolute ownership of the FUB/UCPB shares...to the undefined 'coconut farmers'."

The division's other justices, associate justices Diosdado Peralta and Fransco Villaruz, Jr., concurred with the decision.

The UCPB case forms part of Civil Case 33 pertaining to the coconut levy funds that has been pending before the Sandiganbayan since 1987.

There are at least seven other cases pending with the anti-graft court involving shares, in the name of Cojuangco corporations, with the CIIF, SMC and various businesses allegedly acquired using the levy funds.

©2003 www.inq7.net all rights reserved

Siya nga naman: ang hirap magtukoy ng kinabibilangang ideyolohiya sa ispektrum kung linear lamang ito: maaari kang maging extreme left o center left o kahit left-center-right. Pero tanggap pa rin naman ata ang linear. Higit na accurate ngayon, sa palagay ko, ang planar na pagsusuri sa ispektrang pulitikal. May iba rin namang bersyon nitong planar na ispektrum: imbes na kaliwa-kanan ang x-axis, pumapatungkol ito sa progresibo-konserbatibo, kung saan sa progresibo mahahanap ang mga ideyolohiya ng pagpapamudmod ng kapangyarihan sa nakararami, samantalang ang konserbatibo naman mahahanap ang mga ideyolohiya ng pag-ipon ng kapangyarihan sa iilan.

At ayon sa test, ano raw ako? (ang hirap i-link ng resulta, masyadong komplikado). 7.88 pakaliwa sa x-axis at 5.85 pababa sa y-axis, kaliwang libertaryo. Ka-hanay daw nina Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela at ng Dalai Lama. Si Noam Chomsky, na hindi ko pa nababasa, ang pinakamatingkad na ideyologong ka-linya ko diumano.

Si Lenin at si Mao, mga ideyologo sa kaliwang awtoritaryano, ang siya pa lang nababasa ko (o at least nakuha ang pundamental na kaisipan nila sa... sa mga nakakaalam, tahimik na lang kayo). Hindi ko raw ka-linya ang kanilang pag-iisip, so hindi ako NatDem, bagkus, Not Them? Eh, ayoko namang maging SocDem: ayokong maging ka-linya ng mga Heswita

Ang hirap naman nito. PAKDEM na nga lang!

Ah, basta kaliwa. Ayos na iyon

Heto ang URL ng pagsusulit: http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politicalcompass/index.html

s.t.r./s.t.p.

Habang nakaupo ako ngayon at nagpapalaki ng pwet, may isa hanggang tatlong mamamahayag na nakatatanggap ng death threat, binabayaran ng mga pulitiko o mga militar, pinagkakaitan ng impormasyon, at kinakasuhan ng libel: lahat ng ito upang takutin ang mga mamamahayag na manahimik na lamang imbes na magsulat nang malaya, at gumaya na lamang sa mga mamamahayag na parang tupa kung umamo sa kanila. Sapagkat ang mga bayaran nga pala ang siyang sumisikat sa larangan.

At heto ako, nagpapalaki ng puwit sa silya, habang unti-unting nalalagas ang aking mga kabatak. Dalawang buwan na rin akong hindi nagsusulat dito! Kahit pagsusulat per se, hindi ko na nagagawa.

* * *

Sabihin na nating hindi ko maisingit ang pangongolum sa mga ginagawa ko ngayong bakasyon. Pero tulad nga ng sinasabi, kapag gusto, magagawan ng paraan. Sapat na iyang paliwanag sa katamaran.

Hay, may 54 oras (pitong araw) pa akong nalalabi sa practicum ko sa newsbreak. Panay pila sa SEC ang ginagawa ko, bukod sa pagbubuod sa mga artikulo sa mga back issue. Well, at least nakakapagsulat na, kahit papaano. Isang beses pa lang akong nakakasama sa interview. Pero ayos lang, may pitong araw pa ako, at marami pang maaaring mangyari sa pitong araw

* * *

Kagagaling lang namin ni Leo Nery at Mike Pante sa Sinait, Ilocos Sur (sa Tep-PENG! Cove), sa ika-63 National Student Press Convention ng College Editors Guild of the Philippines. Marami kaming natutunan, as usual, at marami ring nakilala. May bago nang potential na ka-rel si Leo, at may pito pang nakapila. Si Pante, nakabingwit din. Ako naman, eh kasama rin si kumander eh (biro lang miiw!). Pero puwera biro, madami kaming nakilalang student journalist pa lang eh tinatakot at tinatanggalan na ng kalayaan. AteNews. The Bedan. Manila Collegian. Voice of Talamban. Lloyd Sato, VP Visayas, kinidnap diumano ng mga militar/CAFGU at tinakot na huwag nang pumunta sa mga rali, sabay laslas ng tatlong beses sa braso. At marami pang iba.

Nanalo nga pala ang Matanglawin ng Gawad Ernesto Rodriguez Jr. bilang Best Magazine, at pangalawang magkasunod na pagkakapanalo na ito. Sana ma-three-peat ng batch namin. Kaso, sabi ng Today's Carolinian (San Carlos University, ang karibal naming pub sa huling dalawang taon, may two-in-a-row na rin bago kami manalo), "kami naman." Pero, manalo man kami o matalo, panalo iyon ng estudyanteng mamamahayag. Panalo rin sa ERJ ang Kule (Philippine Collegian, UP), Best Tabloid at Heraldo Filipino (La Salle Dasma), Best Broadsheet at Best Literary Folio.

Pero guess what? Masaya na sana ang aming mga adbentyur sa Tep-PENG! Cove kung hindi dahil sa mga kasama naming utak-biya (sabi ni Pante, isda daw na maliit ang utak ang biya) ang nanlapastangan sa kadalisayan ng buong kumbensyon. Saka na lang ako magkukuwento, 'pag umapaw na ang tapayan. Ayokong ako ang tumabig, baka maudlot ang mga binabalak natin. Kung may Guilders na dumalaw dito, kayo na lang ang magkuwento sa comment link, provided na kilala ninyo ang mga utak-biyang tinutukoy ko. Baka mapudpod ko lang ang keyboard ko sa gigil. Palagay ko nagkakaintindihan naman tayo.

* * *

Ang mga utak-biya, hindi lamang ang mga nakihalubilo (sa katunayan nga, ni hindi sila nakihalubilo! O, kilala na ba sila?) sa hanay ng mga guilders, kundi pati na rin sa anumang larangan ang may dahilan kung bakit unti-unting nalalagas ang mga dalisay na mamamahayag: kung hindi namamatay, nababayaran.

At ako? Nagsisimula na uling magsilagasan ang mga sapot at alikabok na nanikid sa mga kasu-kasuan ko. Sa katunayan, pinapagpag ko na nga para mas mabilis

mayroon nang bumisita sa websayt na ito.

disenyo ni pj mariano.