Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 23) – The Sandiganbayan 6th Division found Datu Andal Ampatuan Jr. guilty of 21 counts of graft related to the provision of fuel from his gasoline station to the Maguindanao provincial government.
In a decision promulgated Nov. 23, the 14th anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre, the court sentenced Ampatuan to between six years and one month up to 10 years for each count of graft.
Ampatuan was also ordered to pay the Province of Maguindanao up to ₱44.18 million as value of undelivered fuel plus interest of 6% per annum.
He shall also suffer perpetual disqualification from public office, according to the court.
The case stemmed from a gasoline station, which Ampatuan owns, providing the Maguindanao provincial government with petroleum products between 2007 and 2009 without holding a public bidding process.
Ampatuan, along with other several officials, was accused of conspiring with his father, former governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., to award the contract and “give unwarranted benefits, advantage, or preference to a gas station” that Ampatuan Jr. owns, and to release public funds to the gas station.
Despite the fuel products yet to be completely delivered, the Maguindanao provincial government at the time released public funds to the gas station and certified that the road rehabilitation projects, for which the fuel products were intended, were 100% completed.
The Commission on Audit discovered that none of the projects were finished.
“The Sharif Aguak Petron Station charged the Provincial Government of Maguindanao for the purported deliveries of a total of 1,141,539 liters of Petron Diesel in 2008. However, it could not have delivered the said quantity of fuel products because in the same year, Petron Corporation delivered only 618,000 liters of diesel fuel to accused Ampatuan, Jr. Petron station,” the court said.
“Even assuming that Shariff Aguak Petron Station still had fuel left from the year 2007, it could have delivered only 649,000 liters of diesel fuel, at most,” it added.
Ampatuan’s co-accused, project engineers Omar Camsa and Samsudin Sema, were also sentenced to pay a portion of the value of the undelivered fuel, up to ₱1.6 million and ₱9.12 million, respectively.
Camsa was found guilty on one count of falsifying a public document, and he received a term of six to seven years in prison as well as a ₱5,000 fine.
Sema was also found guilty on three counts of the same charge, receiving a sentence of 18 to 21 years in prison and a ₱15,000 fine.
