Government asks SEC to reverse Sandigan ruling on PLDT shares

The government, in a petition filed with the Supreme Court last Friday, is seeking the reversal of a Sandiganbayan decision involving the ownership of some 21-percent contested shares in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT).

Ruben Carranza Jr., commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), said the Sandiganbayan had erred in declaring Ramon Cojuangco and his wife Imelda and Prime Holdings Inc. (PHI) as the lawful owner of the disputed shares.

Carranza said the government presented strong evidence to prove that the shares, valued at P1.6 billion in 1987, were ill-gotten and that the Cojuangcos and the PHI were mere dummies of the Marcos family.

"Mrs. (Imelda) Marcos, herself, had filed a cross-claim to these assets in the past and this is an admission that they owned the shares," he added.

In the petition, the PCGG, through Solicitor Simeon Marcelo, had asked the high tribunal to order the Cojuangco and PHI to return the assets to the government.

Records show that Ramon Cojuangco owned 76,777 shares of the Philippine Telecommunication Investment Corp. (PTIC) while his wife held 21,525 shares. The PHI, which they also owned, hold 111,415.

At the time, PTIC was the biggest stockholder of the PLDT with an equity position of 28 percent.

Last month the Sandiganbayan ruled that the sequestered shares were legally obtained by the Cojuangco and the PHI.

The anti-graft court also said the PCGG failed to present competent proof to support its case and that the agency submitted mere photocopies of documents.

But Carranza insisted that "they were not simple photocopies because they were recovered from the Marcoses, themselves, in Hawaii."

He added there was no point in dragging the documents abroad "if they were not important."

"The most important argument here is that our evidence does not consist of mere photocopies. These are public records. Then the second most important (argument) is the admission of Mrs. Marcos," he maintained.