MANILA – Lawyers of the Maguindanao massacre victims are mulling to have several Ampatuan assets and properties frozen.
“We now have to search for assets. We need to freeze these assets and when the decision becomes final, have them seized and given to the victims,” Harry Roque, one of the legal counsels of the Maguindanao massacre victims, said Saturday.
This is to
ensure that the Ampatuans will be paying damages to the victims’ families, Roque said.
“Not that it is enough to compensate for the
loss of life but I think it is a reasonable compensation to be given to the
family given the gruesome manner they were killed,” he added.
Roque also said
that he has coordinated with Mindanews journalist Carolyn Arguillas to use her
investigative report on the Ampatuans’ alleged ill-gotten wealth as basis for
seizure orders.
“Using that investigative report, we filed
plunder cases against the Ampatuans hoping pending cases in the Sandiganbayan
could preserve these assets,” the former Presidential spokesperson said.
Two years ago, the Ombudsman filed a forfeiture
case against late Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. over unexplained
assets amounting to P54.966 million.
Investigations found that Ampatuan Sr. – a
former governor of the country’s third poorest province – owned 19 real estate
properties, 35 motor vehicles worth P45.7 million and 23 undeclared firearms
worth P3.838 million./PN
