Ex-Maguindanao Gov. Ampatuan asserts inordinate delay in ‘ghost’ farm inputs case

Former Maguindanao Governor Datu Sajid Ampatuan has asserted his claim of inordinate delay against the Office of the Ombudsman for taking more than three years to file his case over the alleged non-existent purchase of farm products.

Ampatuan filed his 13-page motion for reconsideration at the Sandiganbayan Third Division on May 28, appealing the denial of his bid to dismiss his graft and malversation through falsification charges.

In its May 21 resolution, the Sandiganbayan said there was no inordinate delay in the investigation of Ampatuan's case. It said the two-year period was justified considering the volume of attached documents and the review of two Ombudsmen.  

Ampatuan, in his appeal, reiterated that the delay took more than three years. This includes the two years spent by the Ombudsman for the fact-finding investigation on the complaint filed by the Commission on Audit in 2014.

Ampatuan said the Ombudsman should have proceeded to the preliminary investigation, where he can submit his counter-affidavit, as recommended in the COA complaint to prevent further delays.

"It appears therefore that the referral to the fact-finding investigation was nothing but an attempt on the part of the Office of the Ombudsman to have the time spent on the 'fact-finding' be excluded from the determination of whether the case pending therein was acted upon and/or resolved with inordinate delay," Ampatuan said.

He added the Ombudsman also denied him the chance to defend himself after its personnel failed to give him a copy of the order requiring him to submit a counter-affidavit.

According to Ampatuan, the said order was sent to the Maguindanao capitol even if he was no longer the governor and was received by a certain Jonald Dellosa.

Ampatuan thus said he had no knowledge of his pending case, saying he only learned of the charges upon his indictment at the Sandiganbayan.

Ampatuan said his camp can no longer recover any document that can aid his defense since these were all seized when he was implicated in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, while potential witnesses from the then-Bids and Awards Committee already died.

"The accused Datu Sajid humbly submits therefore that the aforesaid circumstances more than adequately demonstrate the prejudice caused to him by the delay of the Office of the Ombudsman in resolving the COA Sworn Complaint re farm products," he said.

The case against Ampatuan stemmed from his alleged misappropriation of  P98.25 million for the procurement of palay, corn seeds, and fertilizers from Tamoni Enterprises in June 2009.

Investigations later revealed that Ampatuan and his co-accused public officials falsified disbursement vouchers and other supporting documents to make it appear Tamoni Enterprises was paid, when in fact the province of Maguindanao received no farm inputs from the company. —LDF, GMA News