Maguindanao Chronicles

Maguindanao Massacre, Year 3

Andal Jr. sells 8 big properties;
72 Ampatuans running in 2013

ON JUNE 6, 2011, a year and a half after the Maguindanao Massacre claimed the lives of 58 people, including 32 journalists, the Court of Appeals ordered the freezing of all the known assets of those accused of involvement in the crime: Andal Ampatuan Sr., his sons Andal Jr. and Zaldy, and 25 other Ampatuan family members and their associates.

The Court of Appeals Special Second Division headed by Justice Celia Librea-Leagogo issued the freeze order against 597 bank accounts, 113 real properties, 142 firearms, and 132 motor vehicles allegedly owned by the Ampatuans. Its objective: Prevent the frittering away of properties of one of the most powerful clans in the country while government pursues a civil forfeiture case against many of its members.

Sidebar

Young lawyer, big assets

ARNEL CORTEZ MANALOTO, the lawyer of Andal Ampatuan Jr. who purchased eight of his properties in Davao City, is actually a young, recently married trial lawyer based in Angeles City, Pampanga, roughly a thousand kilometers north of the home province of his more famous client.

How he became one of Andal Jr.’s principal lawyers is the question on many a Kapampangan’s mind. How he could afford to purchase eight significantly sized properties in Davao City all at the same time and just seven years after passing the bar examinations is yet another question begging to be answered.

A PCIJ Documentary

Maguindanao:
The Quest for Justice

MAGUINDANAO:The Quest for Justice is a documentary produced by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism on the second anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre. After two years, the Ampatuans have allegedly ramped up efforts to reach a settlement with the families of the victims. The families of the victims continue to hold out against the proposed settlement, even as they try to survive from day to day. In the meantime, the Ampatuan clan continues to wield clout in the region with its vast resources and continuing political influence.

A PCIJ Documentary

Maguindanao Massacre:
One Year After

On November 23, 2009, 58 people were murdered by a local warlord from Maguindanao in the worst case of election violence in Philippine history. Police have charged members of members of the powerful and wealthy Ampatuan clan for the murder of the 58, who were in a convoy to the local election office to file the candidacy papers of a challenger to the incumbent political family.

Among the victims were 32 journalists, mostly from Central Mindanao. The incident marks the largest number of journalists killed in a single incident in the world, making the Philippines the most dangerous place for journalists in 2009. A year later, hope still flickers for the families of the victims, but the path to justice has been unbearably slow.

Int’l media group scores
move to free 2 Ampatuans

The Paris-based press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders expressed concern over the recent move by Department of Justice Alberto Agra to withdraw the murder charges against former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan and his cousin Akmad Ampatuan. The two are among the members of the Ampatuan clan that had been charged for the murder of 57 people in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao last November 23, 200. The victims included 32 members of the media who were covering the filing of the certificate of candidacy of Ampatuan’s political rival, Ishmael Mangudadatu.

Order to clear Ampatuans
shows “Crisis of Justice”

Legal experts warned of a looming crisis in the justice system after public prosecutors openly defied an order by Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra to drop the murder charges against two prominent members of the Ampatuan clan accused of involvement in the November 23 Maguindanao Massacre last year.Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Governor Roan […]

Media orgs hold press conference
denouncing the DOJ decision

Media groups denounce decision of Justice Secretary Alberto Agra to drop the murder charges against Zaldy and Akmad Ampatuan in connection with the Maguindanao Massacre.

Ampatuans managed public
funds like clan’s own purse

THE COMMISSION on Audit (COA) is probably used to seeing dismal book-keeping from government units, but in the last several years, it seems to have become particularly challenged in trying to keep track of the accounts of Maguindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Since 2002, the state auditing agency, in various reports, has repeatedly raised adverse findings about the lack of transparency, inadequate documentation of expenses, disallowed or irregular or unliquidated disbursements, and mismatched or irreconcilable entries in bank balances and financial reports of ARMM and Maguindanao, as well as unverified or unavailable physical inventory of equipment and properties supposedly purchased with public funds there.

Sidebar

Fast, furious wheels

THE STORY goes that in his younger, wilder days, Andal Ampatuan Sr. — patriarch of the powerful family that holds sway over Maguindanao and much of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao — used to ride a horse as he led a band of armed men in forays to hinterland villages.

Maguindanao a development black hole

The poor get poorer, Ampatuans
get richer as IRA billions pour in

IN THE nation’s third poorest province, Maguindanao, the poverty incidence is a staggering 62 percent – five of every six residents live on less than a dollar a day. But in the midst of all that poverty, Maguindanao and the Ampatuans have always been awash in cash, not so much because of any economic activity of note. The cash came nearly entirely from Manila, courtesy of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has pampered the province and the clan as if they were her spoiled twins.

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