CA stops transfer of funds to ARMM

COTABATO CITY—After  freezing the alleged ill-gotten assets of the Ampatuan clan of Maguindanao, the Court of Appeals has ordered four banks to withhold the release of at least P1 billion in public funds intended by the national government for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

In a resolution on June 6, the appeals court ruled to restrain four depository banks of the ARMM to stop cashing checks issued by the regional government, said lawyer Dionisio Jimenez, CA second division clerk of court.

ARMM Executive Secretary Naguib Sinarimbo said the ARMM government was caught flat-footed by the CA resolution, which stemmed from a case filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (Amla) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas against the Ampatuans.

The CA “Notice of Order” named Andal Ampatuan Sr., Bai Laila Ampatuan and Andal Ampatuan Jr. and others as respondents in the Amla petition.

But the same petition also sought a stop to the transfer of close to P1 billion in government funds in the ARMM government’s MDS (modified disbursement system) account, which are deposited at the Cotabato City branch of the Land Bank of the Philippines.

The court has ordered three more banks in Makati City to withhold ARMM funds—the Allied Banking Corp. branch on Legazpi Street, the Banco de Oro Branch on Makati Avenue and the Bank of the Philippine Islands branch on Ayala Avenue.

LBP officials said current account no. 2037900839 belongs to the Office of the Regional Governor of the ARMM, and does not bear the identity of any individual surnamed Ampatuan.

Sinarimbo said the court’s freeze order would practically paralyze the operations of the autonomous region.

The order covers the freezing of the entire ARMM banking account under its MDS funds for salaries, maintenance and operations and project outlay, according to Sinarimbo.

“Around P400,000 in salaries of teachers alone would be affected. In effect,  they would not be paid,” Sinarimbo said.

Sinarimbo said the government should be “circumspect about such a move that would affect the entire constituency of the region.”

“How could they fail to distinguish the MDS account of the ARMM from the banking account of the Ampatuans?” ARMM information director Ali Macabalang said.

He said the order has disrupted education services and coincided with the opening of classes. It also disrupted the delivery of health and social services for Muslim communities, he said.

“This would certainly deprive everyone in the Muslim communities,” Macabalang said.