SC approves rehabilitation of Shemberg Biotech

CEBU, Philippines - After nine years of legal battle, the Supreme Court has approved the petition of Shemberg Biotech Corporation and businessman Benson Dakay for the company to be rehabilitated.

The high tribunal granted the petition, as it denied the opposition of the Bank of the Philippine Islands. In its August 11, 2010 decision, the court also approved the appointment of a rehabilitation receiver.

It was BPI that raised the issue to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeals assailed two earlier orders of Branch 11 of the Regional Trial Court in Cebu dated October 12, 2001 and December 26, 2001, respectively, which were issued in favor of SBC and Dakay. 

BPI first filed a motion for reconsideration with the RTC, but the lower court also denied its motion. BPI subsequently brought the case to the Court of Appeals, but the appellate court, in a decision dated September 24, 2003 and resolution dated February 3, 2004, affirmed the RTC rulings.

Shemberg Biotech Corporation, a domestic corporation that manufactures carrageenan from seaweeds, is based in Mandaue City.

In its petition before the Supreme Court, BPI said the Interim Rules of Procedure on Corporate Rehabilitation should be declared unconstitutional, that the order approving the rehabilitation plan be declared unconstitutional and void, and that the petition for rehabilitation be dismissed and terminated. The Supreme Court, however, said that BPI’s petition is “bereft of merit.”

The said decision was penned by Associate Justice Marti S. Villarama, Jr. and concurred to by Associate Justices Conchita Carpio Morales (chairman), Arturo Brion, Lucas Bersamin and Roberto Abad.  (THE FREEMAN)