‘Double plunder,’ cry sugar farmers

It’s like getting plundered again. That’s how the 4,000 members of the Planters Against the Plunder of the Sugar Industry (PASPI) sees the forthcoming sale of Philippine National Bank (PNB), which they are opposing pending the determination of their plunder case against the Republic Planters Bank (RPB) and former Ambassador and Nasutra chairman Roberto Benedicto.

The sugar farmers have even sought the help of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to cancel the scheduled bidding of the PNB on Aug. 12 for P15 billion.

According to PASPI lawyer Danny Hagad, the deal would leave the sugarmen holding the bag on their P3-billion loans to the PNB through RBP (now defunct) incurred during the Marcos years.

The main focus of their complaint was the dacion en pago agreement between the PNB and RPB in 1991 that appointed PNB as the collector of the loan payments from sugar farmers with an agreed 10 percent commission for the total amount collected.

In the subsequent 1997 memorandum of agreement between the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and PNB involving the same sugar loans, it was noted that the deal was anomalous and disadvantageous not only to the borrowers but even to the BSP. At the same time, the planters said the agreement provides scandalous benefits to the soon-to-be fully privatized PNB.

In short, PNB got possession and control of RPB sugar loan receivables when it took over RPB after EDSA I. The P3 billion is the collateral release value of all RPB loan accounts per the books of the BSP.

What is exactly the gripe of the sugar farmers against the sale of the PNB?

The farmers said they were never made fully aware of the agreement between the PNB and the BSP. According to Titus Abello and Joebert Cuaycong, they had offered to pay the BSP 30 percent of their outstanding loans, with the balance to be paid in full later.

The farmers said they were referred to the PNB, which they claimed had refused to grant their request, invoking the bank secrecy law. The farmers were given the runaround and thus, were unable to pay their loans and retrieve their collateral, which was turned over by the RPB to the BSP.

Meanwhile, because of the Supreme Court decision upholding the plunder case they filed against RPB and Benedicto, et al, on Sept. 2, 1992, PAPSI petitioner Monfort et al rejected the appeal of RPB against foreclosing the real estate and chattel mortgages of RPB loans.

The High Court, in effect, upheld the sugar farmers’ contention that they had been victimized by Nasutra and Philsucom of millions of pesos from the compulsory sale of their sugar at very low prices.

An opinion by the late Chief Justice Teehankee pointed out that "in the recent past, we saw how the Martial Law rule imposed by a President-turned-dictator so weakened and emasculated the judicial system to the point of impotence that it failed to shield the people against the whims of the authoritarian ruler who, without compunction, insulted human rights and the rule of law."

It also ordered the lower court to allow the court proceedings with dispatch, calling it the case of the century.

To help the beleaguered sugar farmers, the late Romeo Guanzon of Bacolod City authored the Sugar Restitution Act.

This 1992 law, however, was never fully implemented but only partly complied with when the PNB interest rates were reduced to only 12 percent. But there was actually no restitution to the farmers for what they had lost to Nasutra and Philsucom as well as RPB.

Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella discussed with PAPSI officials yesterday how he could help suspend the PNB bidding on Aug. 12.

Another congressman, Negros Oriental Rep. Herminio Teves, reportedly intimated to PAPSI officials that he may deliver a privilege speech on the issue of the sweetheart deal.

But why double plunder?

PAPSI officials explained that they had offered to buy back their collateral from the BSP under the same conditions as the PNB but the offer was repeatedly refused. Yet if the agreement with PNB continues and the PNB is privatized soon, it will enjoy a bonanza of P13 billion (their original P3 billion will have ballooned to that amount by 2013). In short, the buyer will get PNB at only P3 billion, and not the P15-billion floor price.

Worse, according to PAPSI officials, chances are, their loan collateral of about 70,000 hectares would be taken over by PNB and possibly sold to whoever can buy them at an undervalued price.

Sugar farmers are now seeking the support of government officials to stop the PNB sale. The question now is do they still have time before they get plundered again?

Ombudsman deputizes churches

The Ombudsman-Visayas recently took a giant step forward when it deputized the diocesan social action centers to help curb graft and corruption in government.

"Church-based Graftwatch is clean," said Tanodbayan Simeon Marcelo during the signing of the memorandum of agreement in Iloilo yesterday.

Church leaders of the dioceses of Dumaguete, Romblon, Antique, Capiz, Aklan, Iloilo, San Carlos, Bacolod and Kabankalan attended the MOA signing. One of the prelates who attended the signing of the historic document was Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

Church representatives will monitor public bidding and also watch the delivery of services of government offices as well as conduct lifestyle checks on government officials, particularly executives of the Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Iloilo Graftwatch president Msgr. Meliton Oso said they will start training volunteers by October. This is certainly a major step in curbing graft and corruption. Church leaders are expected to contribute meaningfully to the campaign to rid the government of rampant graft and corruption.

Palawan problem

Regional Development Council chairman Salvacion Perez of Antique expressed optimism that Palawan officials would be able to solve their internal problem regarding their opposition to the proposal that they be included in the Western Visayas region.

Gov. Perez said she has talked with Gov. Joel Reyes and Rep. Abraham Mitra, who reportedly welcomed the Malacañang executive order placing them under the administrative jurisdiction of the Western Visayas region.

But the problem is that some contend that an EO cannot extinguish what had been approved by law.

Anyway, the takeover ceremonies scheduled on Aug. 18 have been temporarily canceled pending the final outcome of the legal debate on the transfer of Palawan from the Southern Tagalog region to Western Visayas.