Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno slammed today the Supreme Court decision affirming with finality that business tycoon and presidential uncle Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco's share in San Miguel Corporation was legally acquired, saying the decision is an injustice to the Filipino people and highlights that Kamag-anak, Inc. is alive under the Aquino government.
In a ruling last June 21, the SC declared Cojuangco the legitimate owner of his 20% share in the SMC, thereby dismissing the Presidential Commission on Good Government's claim that the shares were acquired using coconut levy funds.
"The SC's ruling on Danding Cojuangco's SMC shares is an injustice not only to coconut farmers and farmworkers but to the Filipino people. It condones the channeling of public funds from the sweat and blood of working people to a single person's business empire – and the deception involved in the whole thing," said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.
"The SC decision denies justice to small coco farmers who were robbed of a portion of the product of their labors and serves the interests of the culprit who has been enjoying the fruits of his crime. It awards the corrupt and denies justice to the mahirap – and this is what the Aquino government's slogan has come down to," Soluta added.
KMU also said that the SC ruling is a clear sign that the Kamag-anak Inc., is alive under the Aquino government.
"The SC decision on the coco levy funds is a clear proof that Kamag-anak Inc. is alive and well under the Aquino government. The crook who benefitted immensely from the Marcos dictatorship is again laughing all the way to the bank under a new Aquino government," Soluta said.
"The SC ruling reminds the Filipino workers and people of the so-called 'compromise agreement' hatched in Hacienda Luisita in the first months of the Aquino government. These two are both testimony to how the Aquinos are using the government to uphold their economic interests to the detriment of farmers and farmworkers whom they have sucked dry for years," he added.
