Sandigan sentences Sajid Ampatuan to 128-year jail term over multiple graft, malversation

The Sandiganbayan on Monday sentenced former mayor Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan of Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao to at least 128 years in prison for multiple counts of graft and malversation

The anti-graft court's First Division found Ampatuan guilty beyond reasonable doubt on four counts of graft and four counts of complex crime of malversation through falsification of public documents to make it appear that P79 million worth of government funds were used to buy food supplies such as sardines, brown sugar, and dried fish from three different suppliers even though no such purchase was made.

Ampatuan, who was the Maguindanao officer-in-charge governor when the crime was committed in 2009, was also perpetually disqualified from running for or occupying public office and ordered to pay around P79 million.

Ampatuan was sentenced to six to eight years of jail time for each count of graft. He was then sentenced to reclusion perpetua or at least 30 years of jail time in each of the three counts of malversation, while he got 14 to 18 years jail sentence for the fourth count of malversation.

Also found guilty of the same offenses were Datu Ali Abpi, former Maguindanao Provincial Budget Officer and member of the province's Bids and Awards Committee.

Ampatuan, who attended his promulgation virtually, is currently one of the Sangguniang Bayan (Municipal Council) members of Shariff Saydona Mustapha, Maguindanao.

"A review of the voluminous documentary exhibits and the testimonial evidence presented by the prosecution reveals evident bad faith on the part of accused Ampatuan and Abpi. Said pieces of evidence have proven beyond doubt that said accused deliberately and maliciously orchestrated the simulated purchases from fictitious suppliers in order to divert public funds for their benefit," the Sandiganbayan said in its 162-page decision.

"The absence of public bidding and the resort to a negotiated procurement without legal cause bespeak not only of accused Ampatuan and Abpi's breach of their sworn duty as public officials, but also of their fraudulent and malevolent intent to steal public funds," the anti-graft court added.

The Sandiganbayan also said that Ampatuan and Abpi defied all the safeguards provided by the Procurement Law (Republic Act 9184) and its implementing rules and regulations by resorting to an alternative method of procurement without justification.

"Based on Section 53 of RA 9184, there is no cause for the procuring entity to purchase food supplies via negotiated procurement. While they harped on purported natural and man-made calamities to give reason to the negotiated procurement, no evidence was presented to prove such emergency cases," the Sandiganbayan said.

"So much so, the accused, as local chief executive, cannot completely accomplish the portion in the POs (purchase orders) which necessitates the certification of the Sanggunian Secretary that the negotiated procurement had been approved pursuant to a Sanggunian Resolution declaring a state of emergency," it added.

Likewise, the Sandiganbayan stressed that the fictitious nature of all suppliers H&S Merchandise, Tomani Enterprises, Nestor Merchandise, N&S Merchandise, and Isulan and General Merchandise is undeniable, with the Department of Trade and Industry, Securities and Exchange Commission, the Business Permits and Licensing Section of Isulan, Maguindanao attesting that not one of such suppliers had been registered and issued permits to conduct business.

Letters and certifications from the Commission on Elections, Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Statistics Authority, PhilHealth, and Bureau of Internal Revenue, as well as officials of barangays in Isulan, Maguindanao also confirmed that the alleged owners thereof are fictitious given that there are no records verifying their existence.

"There is not even an iota of evidence to validate their existence," the Sandiganbayan said.

"If not for the COA (Commission on Audit) special audit and the eventual issuances of the notices of disallowance, the accused could have gotten away with the ghost projects without accountability to the prejudice of the Maguindanaons who were actually in dire need of food supplies at that time. The ease by which the accused devised and eventually carried out their scheme is actually alarming, as it is abhorrent," the Sandiganbayan added.

Ampatuan defended himself from the accusations by arguing:

• his signatures were forged
• the stamped or computer­ generated signatures were affixed on most of the subject documents by another person without his authority
• that he was out of the country from April 28, 2009 to May 15, 2009 which would make it impossible for him to sign off on such transactions
• that some procurement documents do not bear his signature, and
• that the prosecution witnesses have no personal knowledge about his signature.

The Sandiganbayan rejected all these, saying that Ampatuan failed to prove said signatures were indeed forgeries and that the documents were too overwhelming for Ampatuan to be unaware of what is happening.

"We are not persuaded. Without clear, positive, and convincing evidence, there is, therefore, no basis to declare the signatures of accused Ampatuan on the subject documents as forgeries. Accused Ampatuan cannot evade culpability by the simple expedient of denying his signatures on the disputed documents," the Sandiganbayan said.

"Accused Ampatuan, being the requesting and approving authority, has clearly authorized the use of his rubber stamp signature or computer-generated signatures so that these could be considered as his authentic signature. Truth be told, public funds were disbursed on account of the systematic replication and issuance of falsified procurement and disbursement documents," the anti-graft court added.

Lawyer Glenn Nuestro, Ampatuan's counsel, said they will file a motion for reconsideration over the multiple convictions and moved to post a bail for the accused's continued provisional liberty.

Government prosecutors led by Adolben Flores did not oppose the defense's motion but moved to double the cash bail bond posted by Ampatuan which currently stands at P580,000.

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Geraldine Econg ruled in agreement with the prosecution.

"It is our practice that after conviction, we double the [cash] bond," she said.

Nuestro did not oppose Econg's ruling.

Prior to the promulgation, Nuestro informed the court through a manifestation that their camp filed before the Supreme Court a motion for certiorari against the government prosecutors and the anti-graft court over alleged abuse of discretion.

Econg, however, ruled that the promulgation can proceed since the High Court did not issue a temporary restraining order against the Sandiganbayan division.

In December 2019, Ampatuan, unlike his brothers Andal Jr. and Zaldy, was acquitted in the murder of 58 people, including 32 journalists, during the 2009 Maguindanao massacre.—AOL, GMA News