Police sent to guard Ampatuan frozen bank account in Cotabato

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo

MANILA, Philippines – Police officers were deployed to a Cotabato City bank to thwart reported attempts by the Ampatuan clan, whose members were implicated in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, to withdraw money from their court-frozen accounts.

Upon the request by the Department of Justice, Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said he ordered a police team deployed to a Banco de Oro branch in Cotabato City, where it would remain posted until directed otherwise.

“There are no requests to watch other banks but we are prepared to send police personnel if necessary,” said Robredo, who exercises supervisory power over the Philippine National Police.

In a phone interview, Robredo said there was no information yet if two Ampatuan lawyers who had supposedly tried to withdraw money from the Cotabato bank had been successful.

In its blog, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported it learned from sources in Cotabato of an attempt by two lawyers claiming to be representatives of the Ampatuan clan to gain access to bank accounts earlier ordered frozen by the Manila Regional Trial Court.

“It is not clear if the lawyers were successful in getting access to the accounts, which were again ordered frozen by the courts yesterday,” the PCIJ report said.

On Friday, the six-month freeze order of the Court of Appeals on the Ampatuan clan’s bank accounts expired, prompting the Anti-Money Laundering Council to file a civil forfeiture case against the Ampatuans and sought a new freeze order.

The Manila court issued a new order effectively freezing the Ampatuan accounts anew on Friday afternoon.

A lifestyle check conducted by the AMLC showed that Ampatuan clan members had engaged in financial transactions amounting to more than P1 billion from 2000 to 2009 that could be considered illegitimate because they were covered by spurious documents.

The AMLC said Andal Ampatuan Sr., the clan patriarch’s statement of assets and liabilities and net worth did not include his real properties worth P90.46 million.

Based on the AMLC report, the clan patriarch owns 27 houses in Shariff Aguak town in Maguindanao, Cotabato City and Davao City. He also has 91 vehicles with an estimated value of P111.23 million registered under his name and his wife, Laila.

Among the assets covered by the freeze order were properties under Deal Gems and Jewelries Pawnshop, Maguindanao Electric Cooperative, Banco de Oro, Unibank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, BPI FAmily Savings Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines, Coop Bank of Cotabato, EastWest Banking Corp. Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corp. and one Network RB Inc.

Several members of the Ampatuan clan, including Andal Sr. and his sons, are on trial for their alleged roles in the massacre of 57 persons, including 31 journalists, in November 2009 in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao. The body of the reported 58th victim, photojournalist Reynaldo Momay, has not been recovered.