Audit shows Ampatuans amassed P2 billion in one year

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - An ongoing audit showed that former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. amassed more than P2 billion from provincial coffers for the period covering 2008 to 2009 alone.

Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said the audit does not include the previous years since 2001 when the elder Ampatuan started serving as governor of the province.

“Initial results of the audit showed that the Ampatuans got more than P2 billion from the supposed money or the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of the province for the said period,” Mangudadatu said.

He said the amount the Ampatuans could have amassed through the nine years they were in power in Maguindanao and the years that the family patriarch and other members of his family were with the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), could be many times bigger than the P2 billion the audit team found in the records of the province.

Mangudadatu stressed that the audit is being undertaken by a team composed of representatives from the national office of the Commission on Audit as well as from its local office.

And to ensure the safety of the audit team members, Mangudadatu said a team from an Army battalion assigned in the area has been designated to secure them while going through the process.

A representative from the provincial engineering department has also participated in the audit procedure to shed light on what projects were supposed to have been implemented but were never done at all in Maguindanao.

“Hopefully, we will be able to release the results of the ongoing audit early next month when the entire process would have been completed,” Mangudadatu said.

Mangudadatu said that he is working on changing the working attitude of local officials in Maguindanao.

“We should all be open to audit anytime. Our constituents have the right to know where their money is going,” the governor said.

Nobody dared to audit the Ampatuans before because anybody assigned to go over their books would either be killed or were threatened.

Mangudadatu said the results of the audit would be used for the filing of charges against the Ampatuans who were known to have built several mansions in various places in the country.

“The Ampatuans have no known businesses and how come they were able to build those mansions? How come they were able to buy all those expensive cars? So, when we will be able to get the results of the audit, it will pave the way for the charges that will be filed against them,” the governor said.

Ampatuan and his sons, Andal Jr. and Rizaldy were among those suspected to be behind the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre that also claimed the lives of Mangudadatu’s wife, two sisters, two lawyers and 30 journalists.

The governor said that should the provincial government succeed in getting the mansions and other properties of the Ampatuans, especially those in Davao City and Metro Manila, these would be turned into a business venture, the proceeds of which shall be used to fund education projects in Maguindanao and other programs.