VICE MAYOR MUSLIMEN SEMA AND SANDRA AMPATUAN SEMA MGA KIDNAPPER SA COTABATO CITY CA ASKED TO DENY MOTIONS SEEKING TO LIFT FREEZE ORDER COTABATO, Philippines Internet

Manila,  Philippines Government lawyers asked the Court of Appeals (CA) Wednesday to deny the several motions seeking to lift the freeze order on the assets and bank accounts of Congresswoman SANDRA AMPATUAN SEMA, et al.

 In a comment, Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz in behalf of the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said the motions to lift the freeze order have no legal basis.

 On June 6, 2011, the CA issued a 20-freeze order covering several government agencies, banking institutions and other entities believed to have been used by the Ampatuan Clan in amassing ill-gotten wealth amounting to more than 1 Billion.

The accounts and assets of Sema were ordered frozen by the appellate court last June 6 on a petition by AMLC in its 17 page consolidated comment, the OSG said nothing would justify the lifting of the freeze order against Sema since her 30 bank accounts bore numerous transactions that  warrant a perusal by AMLC.  The OSG pointed out that Sema was an undersecretary of the Department of Education (DepEd)-ARMM in 2003 until her election as congresswoman in 2010. Documents initially gathered by the AMLC, including the Annual Audit Report on the ARMM, showed large amounts of unliquidated funds on the part of the DepEd-ARMM, the OSG said.

 The OSG will file an urgent application for the immediate issuance of an order allowing the AMLC to inquire into the subject bank deposits in order to confirm the councils initial findings.

In essence, all movants statement in the present case are just bare claims and allegations which fail to show cause why the free order should be lifted the OSG said.  All of the motions were denied as stated in the resolutions for lack of merit

We agree with petitioner that probable cause exists that the subject bank accounts and other described properties of the respondents in the petitions are related to unlawful activities; and that unless frozen, the funds in the subject accounts will certainly be withdrawn and the other identified properties disposed of, thereby placing them beyond the reach of the law, the CA said in granting the AMLCs plea.