CA lifts freeze order on Ongpin, ex-DBP officials' bank accounts on lack of evidence

The Court of Appeals has lifted the freeze order on the bank accounts of businessman Roberto Ongpin and former officials of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) on lack of evidence. In a resolution promulgated on May 7, 2013, the 5th Division of the appellate court lifted the freeze order it issued on December 6, 2012. Thecourt said it was compelled to lift the freeze order because the petitioner, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), through its counsel the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), "failed to prove its case." "In all the accounts we have caused to be frozen pursuant to our 6 December 2012 Resolution, we failed to see the links between the alleged unlawful activity and the accounts. We cannot rely on surmises and speculations. We need direct and hard evidence otherwise we will be depriving the account holders of the use of their legitimate incomes," the court said in a statement. In her ponencia (paper), Justice Real-Dimagiba said: "Bank accounts are property rights and prolonged freezing thereof will already amount to intrusion, even violation of such basic rights." In its December 6, 2012 order, the CA ordered a temporary 20-day freeze on bank accounts of Ongpin and other DBP officials after the Ombudsman charged them with two counts of graft on two alleged behest loans extended by DBP to Ongpin-led Deltaventures Resources, Inc. in 2009 amounting to P660 million. Ongpin used the loan to purchase Philex Mining Corporation shares of stock at P21 a share, which were then sold to businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan at higher price, earning Ongpin a hefty P412.5 million profit. In April 15, 2013, Ongpin's lawyers elevated the matter to the Supreme Court where they filed a petition for mandamus, since the CA should have resolved the various motions to lift the freeze order within the original 20-day period in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering Act. On the 20th day, the CA extended the freeze order for six months without resolving the various motions to lift filed by the bank account holders. Ongpin's lawyers pointed out that the OSG and AMLC have been given three public hearings to establish their case and more than five months since the freeze order was originally issued, no link to an illegal activity has been shown. — BM, GMA News