Ex-gov charged for P500M fund misuse

Despite repeated demands from the DAR to account for the funds, respondents failed to submit supporting documents.

Former Maguindanao Gov. Datu Sajid Islam Ampatuan and provincial treasurer Osmeña Bandila were charged before the Sandiganbayan for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act 3019, Articles 217 (Malversation of Public Funds) and 218 (Failure of Accountable Officer to Render Account) of the Revised Penal Code (RPC).

The Office of the Ombudsman also included in the charge sheet provincial accountant John Estelito Dollosa and state auditor Danny Calib of the Commission on Audit (CoA).

Records show that in June 2009, the province entered into several Memoranda of Agreement (MoA) with the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) for the construction and rehabilitation of the province’s farm-to-market roads with a project cost of P500 million. Despite repeated demands from the DAR to account for the funds, respondents failed to submit supporting documents such as liquidation reports, list of beneficiaries and certificates of acceptance to support the disbursement of funds and implementation of the project.

“The roads were in bad condition and far shorter than the reported lengths, and the reported accomplishments were no longer visible, are sufficient proof to engender a well-founded belief that public funds were misappropriated for respondents Ampatuan, Bandila, Dollosa and Calib’s own private use or benefit,” CoA findings noted.

“As the head and representative of the Province, respondent Ampatuan was primarily tasked by the MoA to receive the funds and to oversee the implementation of the projects. There is no dispute that the Province received the funds. The investigations conducted by the CoA, however, deny the claim that the projects were implemented,” the report added.

On the other hand, state auditors said respondents Bandila, Dollosa and Calib tried to make it appear that the projects were implemented by executing Certificate 02, which states that the amount of P499,999,850 out of the P500 million of the funds obtained from DAR was disbursed by the province from June 2009 to September 2009.

The Ombudsman resolution stated, “These circumstances sufficiently establish that respondents Ampatuan, Bandila, Dollosa and Calib came to an agreement concerning the misappropriation of the funds and decided to commit the same.”

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