(The writer is a former journalist, a three-term governor of North Cotabato, and incumbent vice governor of the province)
THE POLITICAL POWER AND influence of Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. reached great heights in the 2004 presidential election when he engineered a lopsided victory in Maguindanao for President Macapagal-Arroyo against popular actor Fernando Poe Jr.
It was undoubtedly a feat that won for Ms Arroyo the presidency, never mind the charges of massive cheating. The fact remains that the patriarch of the Ampatuan clan used every means foul or fair to show to Malacañang that he could deliver.
This ensured his own political ascendancy, until the Nov. 23 massacre of 57 people. His family has been tagged as the mastermind of the worst political violence in the nation’s history.
Ampatuan ran unopposed for a second term as governor of Maguindanao in the 2004 election.
In 2005, the President endorsed the candidacy of Ampatuan’s son, Zaldy, for governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). It was, in fact, a political anointment.
The young Ampatuan handily won over Datu Ibrahim “Toto” Paglas III, a former mayor of Datu Paglas town who was supported by Muslim civil societies and many Mindanao political leaders, including myself.
As ARMM governor, Zaldy Ampatuan facilitated the realization of his father’s political plans. New towns were created out of four to five barangays to allow political underlings to dip into IRAs (internal revenue allotments).
Ampatuan also attempted to create a new province, Shariff Kabunsuan, where he had intended to establish a new political arena for the Masturas and Sinsuats, thus eliminating these two influential and powerful political families from Maguindanao.
He also worked for the creation of a third province for the Mangudadatus and the Paglases, obviously to make sure that there would be no more threat to the Ampatuans in Kabuntalan Valley.
Court scuttles partition
But Ampatuan’s plans backfired. I did not agree to his idea of yielding the town of Pikit in North Cotabato to Maguindanao to satisfy the land area requirement for the third province. The Supreme Court also rebuffed the ARMM legislation creating the new province, saying it was not within the powers of the regional government.
Ampatuan’s advisers used the court decision on the Shariff Kabunsuan case as a reason for him to resign as governor of Maguindanao. Zaldy Ampatuan later appointed his brother, Sajib, as Maguindanao acting governor and his brother, Akmad, as acting vice governor.
According to insiders, the plan was actually to allow Ampatuan to run for a new term again in 2010 as he had not completed his third and final term.
The appointment of Sajib was reportedly protested by his brother, Andal Jr., the patriarch’s favorite son who wanted to be governor. This almost led to a family tragedy as Sajib, according to reports, instructed his men to stop Andal Jr. at all cost.
In spite of his legal setbacks, the elder Ampatuan continued to wield power and amass wealth beyond imagination.
Amassing great wealth
For a politician who backed out of a plan to run for Maguindanao governor in 1998, purportedly because “he only had P30 million in his war chest,” it is mind-boggling how Ampatuan Sr. and his family could have accumulated such wealth in just eight years.
The misuse of the IRA in the ARMM areas is public knowledge. Most politicians in the area consider the IRA as their own personal funds, a reward for their political victories, which also cost them tens of millions of pesos.
It is not surprising to hear of stories of town mayors within the region living outside of their towns for the whole period after the election and coming back only during election time to buy votes and win again. Then, they will disappear again.
But the IRA alone, even including that of the ARMM, would not be enough for Ampatuan and his family to amass so much wealth within such a short period of time.
There are suggestions that a flourishing illegal drug trade in the region was behind the wealth, but this seems unbelievable.
What is believable is a moneymaking scam which involves the connivance of national officials with local government units. It is called “downloading” and it involves the transfer of funds from the different departments to provinces and municipalities through facilitators who get between 40 percent and 50 percent of the amount for them and their patrons.
With 40-50 percent already taken off, what usually happens is the projects will never be implemented.
Blood in their hands
Among the most notorious departments linked to this scam are the Department of Agriculture and its agencies, including the National Irrigation Administration; the Department of Public Works and Highways, through the road right of way settlements and the Road Users Board; and the Department of Agrarian Reform, through the VOS (voluntary offer to sell).
Congressional funds have also been identified as the source of the Ampatuan wealth.
The biggest contributor to the Ampatuan cash cache is reportedly the agriculture department. In fact, there are reports that shortly before the massacre, a P50-million fund was downloaded by the department to Maguindanao.
Ampatuan Sr. and his local government units were the most preferred destinations of these fund transfers because of his perceived influence at the top echelons of government and his capability to cover his tracks.
Now that he is out of power, it would be interesting to know which agencies of the government transferred funds to the ARMM and Maguindanao, and how much. The people in these agencies have the blood of the massacre victims in their hands.
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