The Sandiganbayan has vowed to terminate expeditiously the remaining issues in Civil Case No. 0033, an ill-gotten case that was filed in 1987 against scores of individuals and business firms by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).
The case has been subdivided into eight separate cases in 1995 to expedite the resolution.
"It is time to write finis to Civil Case No. 0033, and the subdivided cases stemming from it," the Sandiganbayan said in a resolution written by Second Division Chairperson Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg with the concurrence of Associate Justices Edgardo M. Cardona and Arthur O. Malabaguio.
With its resolution, the anti-graft court prodded both the PCGG and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to start presenting its evidence against the remaining defendants in Civil Case Nos. 0033-C, 0033-D, and 0033-E.
Civil Case No. 0033, with the late businessman Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. as its main defendant, was filed on July 31, 1987. The Sandiganbayan ordered that it be subdivided into eight cases in 1995 due to the number of individuals involved.
Now, only defendants Rafael Abello, Enrique Cojuangco, and Marcos Cojuangco will go to trial for Civil Case No. 0033-C, which involved the reported manipulation of coconut levy funds through granting "anomalous and grossly disadvantageous settlements" between the United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and Agricultural Investors, Inc.
While the pre-trial for this case was issued on Aug. 9, 2000, trial never ensued.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Almeda, Rolando dela Cuesta, Mohammad Ali Dimaporo, Jose Eleazar Jr., Inaki Mendezona, Danilo Ursua, and corporate defendants Cagayan de Oro Oil Company, Inc., Legaspi Oil Co., Inc., Lucena Oil Factory, Inc., PCY Oil Manufacturing Corp., Thilagro Edible Oil Mills, Inc., and United Coconut Oil Mills (Unicom) will proceed to trial with Civil Case No. 0033-D.
Civil Case No. 0033-D involves the payment made to competing and non-operating oil mills, which was allegedly used to make a monopoly and control the price of copra through Unicom. For this, the trial still has not started.
Lastly, Rolando dela Cuesta, Jose Eleazar Jr., and Hermenegildo Zayco will face trial for Civil Case No. 0033-E. The said case was due to their alleged collaboration with Cojuangco Jr. in transferring coconut levy funds to pay damages in an anti-trust lawsuit in California. They also allegedly used the said money to pay for former First Lady Imelda Marcos' projects and programs.
The court set a pre-trial order for this case on Oct. 27, 2000. But like the other cases, trial has not started.
Now, the anti-graft court wants to speed things along and reminded the prosecution that any further delay in the cases may result in its dismissal and even cited Section 3, Rule 17 of the Rules of Court which warns against failure to prosecute for an unreasonable length of time.
"Indeed, the unreasonable delay in proceeding to trial in these cases has resulted in prejudice to the substantive right to speedy disposition of some of the defendants, as adjudicated by the Supreme Court and this Court," the Jan. 7, 2025 resolution stated.
"At present, it has been more than 37 years since the causes of action in these civil cases were first brought before this Court. It is an important fundamental principle in the judicial system that every litigation must come to an end. This Court is duty-bound to uphold and enforce this principle," it added.
To recall, the PCGG and OSG won Civil Case No. 0033-A as it recovered 64.98 percent of UCPB in 2003. They also won Civil Case No. 0033-F on May 7, 2004 and managed to get 33,133,266 shares of San Miguel Corporation for coconut farmers.
On the other hand, the other six civil cases involving Cojuangco, the late former President Ferdinand Marcos and First Lady Imelda Marcos, as well as former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, were dismissed due to inordinate delay.
Civil Cases 0033-B, 0033-G, and 0033-H, on the other hand, are in the middle of pre-trial proceedings.