Manila court lifts asset freeze vs Leyte NGO in terror financing case

PALO, Leyte — The Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 28 has ordered the lifting of the Provisional Asset Preservation Order (PAPO) against a multi-awarded non-government organization in Leyte that had been suspected of financing terrorism in Eastern Visayas. The order was released on Friday.

The court also denied the government’s request for an Asset Preservation Order (APO) in the civil forfeiture case involving the Leyte Center for Development and Empowerment (LCDE), its executive director Jazmin Aguisanda-Jerusalem, and other individuals whose assets were frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) in May 2024.

In its order, the court said asset-freezing measures cannot rest on conjecture or unsupported allegations, but must be grounded on competent evidence establishing probable cause.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL), which handled the case of LCDE, said the ruling cited the government’s failure to credibly link the questioned bank accounts and transactions to unlawful activity under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA).

The court also pointed to gaps in the financial investigation, including an unreconciled timeline, the absence of reliable proof of alleged organizational links, and the failure to meaningfully examine the legitimate nature of the NGO’s work and funding sources.

“The denial of the APO underscores our clients’ firm and categorical repudiation of fabricated accusations of terrorism financing, which have been used to intimidate and stigmatize legitimate development and humanitarian initiatives,” NUPL said in a statement.

Jerusalem said the accusation of financing terrorism against LCDE was a form of red-tagging against her organization, which has a long history of humanitarian work uplifting the lives of farmers and other marginalized sectors in Eastern Visayas.

LCDE has earned various national and international recognitions for its work in disaster risk reduction and management.

Jerusalem won the International Climate Heroine Award in 2017, presented by INGO CARE Germany, and the UN WIN DRR Leadership Award in 2021, given by the United Nations Women in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for Asia Pacific, among others.

LCDE also received international recognition for its Typhoon Yolanda response, aiding over 23,000 families with support from global partners, including Diakonie, World Jewish Relief, Peace Winds, Civic Force, Hope Bridge, and Mercy Relief.

The organization was named the “Most Outstanding NGO in Volunteer Work and Leader” by the Philippine National Volunteers Association in 2015 and received the National Gawad Kalasag Award from the Department of National Defense in 2006.

Jerusalem said the AMLC’s freezing of their accounts — particularly five LCDE bank accounts with PSBank and Metrobank branches in Tacloban — forced the group to temporarily suspend its humanitarian work in the region.