Jayme eyed as UCPB chairman

Major changes are afoot at food and drink giant San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) as the Arroyo administration is planning on putting its own people to run these entities.

Finance Secretary Alberto Romulo said yesterday a search team has been tasked to look for available people but at the outset, the finance chief said the government is considering former finance minister Vicente Jayme to replace UCPB chairman Jeronimo Kilayco while former Development Bank of the Philippines vice chairman Francisco del Rosario might be tapped as president, replacing Lorenzo Tan.

Romulo said Malacañang’s legal team is studying the possibility of appointing the government’s as well as the coconut farmers groups’ representatives to SMC and UCPB, both of which have shareholdings that are under sequestration by the Philippine Commission on Good Government (PCGG). The said shares are believed to have been bought using coconut levy imposed on coconut farmers in the early 1980s.

Malacañang is also studying what legal steps can be done to oust SMC chairman and chief executive officer, Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco Jr. who regained control of the country’s biggest food and drink conglomerate with the help of deposed President Estrada.

"There are several cases in court regarding the coconut levy and the coconut farmers are saying that they want representation, and since the coconut levy is a public fund, we have to solidify our position," Romulo said.

While Jayme and Del Rosario are being considered for the top posts in UCPB, Romulo said nothing has been finalized yet as government also has to look into the lists of other contenders, including those coming from the coconut farmers’ groups.

Romulo said the results of the legal study headed by the Department of Justice and presidential legal adviser Avelino Cruz should come out this week.

The Arroyo administration is bent on ousting Cojuangco Jr. from SMC once the courts decide in favor of the government on the issue of ownership of the disputed 27-percent stake in the food and drink giant.

Earlier, Romulo implied that Cojuangco, who was able to steer SMC into profitability again when he regained control of the country’s biggest food and drink company in 1998, is not assured of keeping his post.

"It doesn’t mean that we will hire him if there are other better managers. Anything is possible under the sun," Romulo said.

The Arroyo administration wants to take back the voting rights of Cojuangco in SMC, convinced that the latter’s voting rights in SMC should be given back to the government through the PCGG which previously held the shares.

The PCGG was created by former president Corazon Aquino to go after suspected Marcos cronies and take into custody assets they amassed under questionable circumstances.

Aquino and Fidel Ramos sequestered Cojuangco’s shares in SMC, and never assigned to Cojuangco, proxies for an estimated 47-percent block of shares government held in SMC.

The Aquino and Ramos administration said the shares were bought by Cojuangco through the Coconut Industry Investment Fund which he administered in the early 1980s, using coco levy collected from coconut farmers.

This prevented Cojuangco from continuing control of the country’s most profitable food and beverage company. The courts though, allowed Cojuangco to vote his 20-percent disputed stake in the company.

Cojuangco’s fortunes in SMC were reversed in 1998 when just days aftrer being President, Estrada assigned the remaining 27-percent proxy vote to Cojuangco who bankrolled his candidacy. Thus, Cojuangco was able to regain control of SMC.

Former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez said former President Estrada had no right to give the voting rights to Cojuangco, especially since the ownership of the 47-percent shares are still being disputed and is pending with the Sandiganbayan.