Businesswoman denies laundering money for Ampatuans

COTABATO CITY, Philippines—A local businesswoman has denied laundering money for jailed members of the influential Ampatuan family but admitted lending them “more or less P17 million” for the construction of two properties in Davao and Manila.

Delia Saquiton-Sumail, owner of a local lending shop, said she could not understand why she was being dragged into the plunder case faced by the Ampatuans when she had no access to the clan’s untold wealth.

“We are not even related by blood or affinity; in fact, we belong to different cultures and faiths. I’ve been raised as a Christian in a family of Catholics,” Sumail said, as she confirmed in a telephone interview with the Inquirer last Wednesday that her establishment’s bank accounts have been subjected to a court freeze order.

Sumail, a former finance officer of the Maguindanao Electric Coop., Inc. (Magelco), maintained that as a Christian, she could not possibly have had access to the assets of wealthy Muslims.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council (Amlac) reported that it has found two Ampatuan properties in Manila and in Davao, which were previously registered under Sumail’s name.

Asked if it was true she had funded the construction of the properties in Davao and Manila, she replied: “Who am I to be able to refuse a request by powerful people to fund the construction on some fast loan arrangement? I’m powerless…. Actually, this is the first and only such case,” she said in Filipino.

She said that, as was supposedly customary in the lending business, the properties were placed under her name until the loans were fully repaid.

Asked how much the loan were, she replied “more or less P17 million,” adding that the loan had been fully settled.

Sumail said she can open her lending shop’s operations to scrutiny by financial experts anytime so they could closely follow and monitor money transactions and determine if any there were any on behalf of the Ampatuans.

“I believe that deep within Governor (Esmael) Toto (Mangudadatu), he knows the fact that I am only a victim of circumstances in this predicament,” she said. “I am powerless even to speak for my own defense against the words of those who unfairly accuse me in Manila. I do not have dirty money, but my name has been so much stained by such rumors of allegedly laundered money.”

Sumail said her business thrived from lending and not from laundering money for members of the Ampatuan family, who are also  accused of masterminding the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.

Sumail said that in the 1990s, she started her lending business from her husband’s earnings from overseas employment and her separation pay when she left Magelco.

When the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas  opened microfinance business windows to small players, Sumail said she and her husband Aladdin organized Alandia (named after a foreign vessel that Aladdin had worked on in the 80s).

Their clientele were mostly public school teachers, who took advantage of the lower net interest of five percent. Sumail even recalled borrowing from the proceeds of an uncle’s retirement pay from the judiciary to raise funds for the lending business.

She said she could not understand why her business has been embroiled in controversy created by the gruesome Magundanao massacre, when she had already been into the lending trade long before the respondent-politicians rose to power.

“I have earned all this in good faith, sheer hard work and with trust built on friendship and consistency in credit tracts (in the local financial credit circle). Now I tend to be losing everything, including some of my friends. I can lose money, if that’s the only way for me to live. I’m used to simple living. They know me. Often, I would feel that there seems to be no one left on my side but God. So I would rather stay all day long at home and pray,” Sumail said.