Maguindanao massacre kin file criminal raps vs BSP gov, AMLC execs

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) Relatives of the victims in the Maguindanao massacre filed a criminal complaint against Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco and other members of the Anti-Money Laundering Council for failing to immediately freeze the assets of Andal Ampatuan Sr. and other principal accused in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre.

In a 30-page joint complaint-affidavit, also charged with violation of the Anti-Graft Law, Dereliction of Duty and Administrative Misconduct were former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairperson Fe Barin and Vida Chiong, acting Commissioner of the Insurance Commission – all members of the AMLC.

Complainants are Ma. Cipriana Gatchalian, Myrna Reblando and Editha Mirandilla Tiamzon whose husbands were killed in the massacre while Juliet Palor Evardo is the mother of victim Daniel Becollado Tiamzon from UNTV.

The complainants, through their lawyer Harry Roque, said the respondents were slapped with a criminal complaint for their alleged inaction or gross negligence in connection with the money-laundering activities of the Ampatuan clan.

Based on separate Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN) of the Ampatuans and an investigative report, the Ampatuan clan owned 35 mansions in Davao city alone, most of them in upscale subdivisions.

The SALN failed to reflect the properties mentioned in the report.

The report also stated that the Ampatuan clan has 121 various vehicles, including 53 high end luxury vehicles. Some of the Ampatuan’s fleet include three Hummers, three Land Rovers, three Land Cruisers, two Chevrolet Suburbans, four Isuzu D-max, one Willy’s Jeep, one pink recreation Van, 18 Isuzu trucks, three armored vehicles, a Humvee, four McCormick farm tractors, four Kubota tractors and three Massey-Ferguson farm tractors.

The complainants also cited a Commission on Audit Report stating the misappropriation of funds in Maguindanao.

“This fact alone, not counting the P386-million the clan patriarch allegedly gave away to bribe the loyalty and support of certain personalities already qualifies their crime as a clear case of plunder.”

“While they were in control of government and governance in the province of Maguindanao and their obvious lack of means to legitimately or legally accumulate such wealth, the presumption arises that they accumulated such ill-gotten wealth,” complainants said.

They said with the investigatory powers of AMLC, it could have immediately ordered an investigation into the reported ill-gotten wealth of the Ampatuans.

“But more than 500 days have already passed since the Nov. 23, 2009 carnage in Ampatuan town but the AMLC has not taken any significant step to prevent the Ampatuans from hiding their ill-gotten wealth, not even with the subsequent filing by some of the Private Complainants late last year of a petition for the AMLC to do just that,” complainants said.

“Their inaction without doubt contributed to the Ampatuans’ sense of invincibility, since they could violate the laws with impunity, and without fear of  criminal consequences, because even a body as powerful as the AMLC could choose to look the other way in their case.”

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Danica Hermogenes, Inquirer.net