The Philippine High Court on Wednesday has affirmed a 2007 ruling of an anti-graft court that the 20 percent share of the country's largest and most profitable conglomerate San Miguel Corp., belongs to Eduardo Cojuangco, an uncle of President Benigno Aquino and a key ally of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The ruling effectively dismisses the government's claim to the $9bn conglomerate. It also ends the 25-year legal battle on the rightful owner of the block shares. The government argues that the block shares were illegally obtained by Cojuangco using proceeds from a levy collected from coconut farmers during the Marcos years to acquire the disputed shares.

But the Philippine Supreme Court said in its decision that "that the block of shares in SMC in the names of respondents Cojuangco et al... is the exclusive property of Cojuangco et al, as registered owners," and added that government lawyers failed to present evidence to prove its claims.

Earlier, the court ruled that the coconut levy collected at they time of the Marcos dictatorship as public fund and belonged to the government.

Cojuanco was a major ally of Marcos and one of his closes business associates. He fled the country together with the Marcoses in 1986 after a popular uprising toppled the 20-year regime. Cojuangco was chairman of San Miguel at the time of their ouster.