Ampatuan assets freeze stays

THE Court of Appeals extended for another six months the freeze order on the bank accounts of members of the feared Ampatuan clan, whose senior members were tagged as masterminds in the grisly killing of 57 journalists and civilians in Maguindanao.

The CA junked the clan’s appeal to lift the freeze order it previously ordered for lack of merit. The court extended until December 2 its order freezing the family’s alleged ill-gotten wealth amounting to more than P1 billion.

“A freeze order is an extraordinary provisional relief provided by law, which does not depend on the pendency of a regular action as one of the incidents,” the appeals court explained.

The freeze order was against 28 members of the Ampatuan clan led by its patriarch Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr., former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Putu Ampatuan and several others.

The order covers entities such as Deal Gems and Jewelries Pawnshop and Maguindanao Electric Coop (Magelco) believed to be owned by the Ampatuans.

Also covered are government agencies and banking institutions such as Allied Banking Corporation, Banco de Oro, Unibank, Inc., Bank of the Philippine Islands, BPI Family Savings Bank, Coop Bank of Cotabato, Development Bank of the Philippines, East West Banking Corporation, Equicom Savings Bank, Inc., Equitable Card Network, Inc., Equitable PCI Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines, Metrobanl Car Corporation, Metropolitan Bank and trust Company, One Network RB, Inc., Philam Equitable Life Assurance Company.

Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corporation, Philippine National Bank, Philippine Savings Bank, Planters Development Bank, PruLife Insurance Corporation of UK, RCBC Savings Bank, RizalCommercial Banking Corporation, Security Bank Corporation, Standard Chartered Bank, Sterling Bank of Asia, Inc., Toyota Financial Services Philippine Corporation, Union Bank of the Philippines, United Coconut Planters Bank, Philippine National Police Firearms and Explosives Office, Land Transportation Office, Register Deeds of Davao City, Register Deeds of Maguindanao and/or Cotabato City and Province of Maguindanao.

Source  Hector Lawas http://www.journal.com.ph

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