High court stops gov’t from taking control of P73B in coco levy funds

THE SUPREME Court has stopped the enforcement of two executive orders that would set into motion the privatization and reconveyance to the government of an estimated P74.3-billion in coco levy funds that the high court had declared public funds.

In an en banc resolution, the high court yesterday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) putting on hold the implementation of Executive Orders Nos. 179 and 180 in favor of the petitioning coconut farmers’ groups.

The high court said the TRO was “effective immediately and until further orders of the court.”

Malacañang said yesterday that it has not yet seen a copy of the high court order.

“We have not seen the order but if verified, we will abide by it,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.

The order was in response to a petition filed by the Confederation of Coconut Farmers Organizations of the Philippines (CCFOP), which accused President Aquino of grave abuse of authority when he issued the EOs in March without the approval of Congress and the Sandiganbayan.

The petitioners said Mr. Aquino’s orders were “unconstitutional,” having been issued without the say-so of Congress, which has the power to legislate the management of the coco levy funds.

The high court ruled in separate decisions in April 2011 and January 2012 that the coco levy funds were public funds.

But the CCFOP said the rulings “cannot be hastily and prematurely implemented by the President through mere EOs” and “without prior legislative imprimatur.”

The group said the funds were also subject to a writ of execution from the Sandiganbayan’s First Division, which originally handled the coco levy case, and the Philippine Coconut Authority, an agency created by Congress to administer the coco levy funds.

President Aquino signed the two executive orders in March. The first, EO 179, requires the “inventory and privatization” and the “reconveyance” of the coco levy funds in favor of the government.