Former senator and now Presidential Legal Adviser Juan Ponce Enrile said yesterday the 37-year-old graft case filed against him and several others had dragged on because the administration of then President Cory Aquino just invented the case.
This was the reaction of the veteran politician and lawyer when Daily Tribune sought his reaction about the decision of the Supreme court to dismiss the case against him and several businessmen for the alleged siphoning of P840.7 million in coconut levy funds.
“It is about time the case was dismissed. In the first place, the government has no case against us as it was invented by the Cory government. They are the ones who wasted the money, about P76 billion,” said Enrile in a telephone interview.
The government of former President Ferdinand Marcos had wanted to help farmers and prevent the export of copra because the country needed coco oil at that time given the high prices of copra from abroad.
“There was an agreement then between the government and the farmers to have voluntary contributions. The money collected was P9.7 billion, and we left behind P2.5 billion. We buy oil mills, San Miguel shares, and operate the Coconut Planters Bank using the money of the farmers for their benefit,” said Enrile.
When Aquino sold the Coconut Planters Bank for around P76 billion along with the coco mills, the money of the farmers vanished because the bank went bankrupt, according to Enrile. Later on, the money that was supposed to be earned from the sale of the farmers’ assets went to Land Bank of the Philippines.
The seasoned politician said they managed to accumulate some P130 billion from the farmers’ voluntary contributions, but this was sequestered by the Presidential Commission on Good Government.
“The bank that we built along with the coco mills for the farmers went bankrupt, and the P130 billion which we accumulated was sequestered. They did not put into good use the money. Where is the money?,” asked Enrile.
“We returned ABS-CBN, GMA 7, and the Jacinto companies which are now very prosperous. Then they sued us. They are the ones who took the farmers’ money. The case is a political one.”