The Ampatuan Files

PHILIPPINE regional trial court Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes has finally denied the petition for bail of Andal Ampatuan Sr., the principal suspect in the 2009 Ampatuan massacre that led to the death of 58 people, 32 of them journalists and media workers.

Andal Ampatuan Sr

‘AS AN important note, however, the ruling of the court is not in judgment of guilt or innocence of the accused which requires proof beyond reasonable doubt which is addressed during a full-blown trial,’ Judge Solis-Reyes adds in her ruling denying the bail petition of Andal Ampatuan Sr. | Photo from interaksyon.com

Reyes, who is hearing the murder charges against the accused, denied Ampatuan’s bail plea more than five years after charges were filed against the suspects in what is now considered as the single deadliest attack against members of the media.

“Wherefore in view of foregoing and finding that evidence of guilt of accused is strong the bail petitions filed by Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr. are hereby denied,” Reyes said in her ruling according to a report of gmanetwork.com.

How influential are the Ampatuans in Maguindanao province? How well-connected are they? In 2013, the PCIJ released its documentary “Angkan,” which explored clan politics in the southern Philippine province.

Angkan Inc., is a documentary produced by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in an effort to understand the past, present, and future links that define the clans that have ruled Maguindanao province for centuries. Maguindanao is one of several province whose ruling clans have a long historical and cultural heritage. As such, the clans are seen as very much a part of Maguindanao culture. However, the clans have, over the decades, also intruded into the local and national political scene with the help of patrons in Manila who see their use in the gathering of votes.

And how wealthy is Andal Ampatuan Sr? What are his businesses? Interestingly, the PCIJ found out in 2011 that while Andal Sr declared in his statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth that he is a simple farmer, he and his son, Zaldy, own more than 65 properties scattered throughout Maguindanao, Cotabato City, Davao City, and even in ritzy Dasmariñas Village in Makati, home to many foreign embassies and a refuge of the country’s rich and famous.

“These real properties range from a two-hectare farm lot in Cotabato City, to magnificent structures in Davao City and Shariff Aguak that tower over the simple abodes of one of the country’s poorest provinces. One residential property in Davao City alone covers at least 4,000 square meters, and has a mansion that dwarfs other high-end homes with its opulence.” – An Anarchy of Mansions

Click on the photo to read the full story.

The tall gates conceal the mansion in Juna Subdivision, Davao City, that is owned by Andal Ampatuan Sr. | PCIJ File Photo

The tall gates conceal the mansion in Juna Subdivision, Davao City, that is owned by Andal Ampatuan Sr. | PCIJ File Photo

Tomorrow: The money of the Ampatuans in the banks and how they tried to secure amnesty for their guns.

Jinggoy’s millions

A PHILIPPINE anti-graft court has recently dismissed for lack of merit a petition by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada to prevent the garnishment of his properties in relation to a P184-million plunder charge filed against him by the Ombudsman, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

PHOTO from Jinggoy Estrada Facebook page

PHOTO from Jinggoy Estrada Facebook page

The senator is facing plunder charges along with Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Bong Revilla and Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind in the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

The Inquirer also reported that in upholding its Feb. 17 order granting the Ombudsman’s petition for a writ of preliminary attachment, the Sandiganbayan said the arguments raised by Estrada in his motion for reconsideration were “unmeritorious.” A writ of attachment or garnishment is similar to a freeze order issued by the courts while a trial is going on.

Click on the photo to read the full report on the Inquirer webpage.

PHOTO FROM Jinggoy Estrada Facebook page | Photo by Albert Calvelo

PHOTO FROM Jinggoy Estrada Facebook page | Photo by Albert Calvelo

Senator Jinggoy E. Estrada, son of former president Joseph Estrada by first wife and former senator Dr. Luisa ‘Loi’ Ejercito Estrada, has straddled the worlds of politics and show business all his life. Over the last two decades, Jinggoy has starred in several films and at the same, been elected mayor of his father’s bailiwick of San Juan City, and later, as senator. Jinggoy is serving his second six-year term in the Senate until May 2016.

How much is he worth?

Click on the photo below to know Jinggoy’s net worth on our MoneyPolitics site.

PHOTO FROM Jinggoy Estrada Facebook page

PHOTO FROM Jinggoy Estrada Facebook page

 

 

The Taxwoman’s top 10 list

By Cong B. Corrales

DEATH and taxes, according to American statesman Benjamin Franklin, are the only things certain in this world. And in the Philippines, the taxman — err, taxwoman – cometh is on April 15, the deadline for filing of tax returns.

One would think that as sure as night follows day, the super rich would also top the nation’s list of top taxpayers.

But the lists of the top 500 individual taxpayers in the Philippines from 2008 to 2012 from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) show a different trend.

During the period, only a certain Ronald R. Soliman has consistently figured in the top 10 lists of individual taxpayers. Soliman ranked 5th, 3rd, 10th, and 7th in the 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012, respectively. It was only in 2011 that Soliman did mot land even in the top 500 individual taxpayers’ list.

Soliman is the executive vice president of Graceland Properties Development Inc., and president and chief executive officer of Icon Development Corporation.

Curiously, press reports have linked both of his companies in an alleged investment scam in 2010.

INFOGRAPHICS by Cong B. Corrales

INFOGRAPHICS by Cong B. Corrales

Then Senator Rodolfo G. Biazon, acting on the reports, filed Senate Resolution 1538 on Jan. 20, 2010 seeking to conduct an “inquiry on the operations of a certain entity known as Graceland Properties Development, Inc that has allegedly been conducting an investment scam with the end in view of crafting remedial legislation to protect investors from such scams.”

But five years hence, the inquiry has not moved past the Senate’s Committee on Trade and Commerce.

Meanwhile in October 2012, the Enforcement and Prosecution Department of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued SEC CDO Case No. 03-12-00 ordering the two Soliman companies to permanently “cease and desist” from “offering and issuing unregistered securities to the public.”

The SEC order was “issued to restrain acts of Respondents-Movants (Graceland Properties, Inc. and Icon Development Corp.), their agents and successors that operate as a fraud to the investing public.”

Like Soliman, two consistent placers in the top 10 taxpayers lists from 2008 to 2012 are erstwhile TV game show host Wilfredo B. Revillame and TV star Kristina Bernadette C. Aquino, youngest sister of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

Revillame ranked second in 2008, 2009, and 2012 as a taxpayer. Aquino, listed as Kristina Aquino Yap, ranked 8th in 2008, first in 2011, and 6th in 2012.

A third taxpayer with fortune linked to TV, Felipe L. Gozon, GMA Holdings, Inc. chair, ranked 10th in the top 10 lists in 2009 and 2011.

In stark contrast, however, some of the known Filipino tycoons had landed in the BIR’s top 10 taxpayers lists from 2008 to 2012 only once.

Named by Forbes Magazine as the “richest person in the Philippines,” Henry Sy Sr. appeared in the list of top 10 taxpayers only in 2009 when he placed 6th. According to Forbes, as of March 16, 2015, the net worth of Sy and his family comes up to US$14.1 billion. Henry Sr. is founder of the SM group, chairman of the board of SM Investments Corp. chairman emeritus of SM Prime, and chairman of SM Development and Highlands Prime, Inc.

For his part, Ramon S. Ang, vice chairman, president, and chief operating officer of San Miguel Corp., showed up in the top 10 roster only in 2009 when he placed fourth. In 2013, Forbes had estimated Ang’s net worth to be about US$260 million.

One of two scions of an old-wealth family, Fernando Zobel de Ayala, also ranked once at 10th place, in 2012.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, President of Smart Communications Inc. and Manila Electric Company, appeared in the top 10 list only in 2011; he ranked fourth. According to Forbes, Pangilinan’s net worth is US$105 million. That, Forbes added, is “based on what we can prove, though sources claim he owns higher stakes than publicly known.”

In another set of lists from the BIR, the top non-individual or corporate taxpayers, Pangilinan’s companies have invariably rated higher.

According to the BIR’s list for 2013, Smart Communications Inc. leads the nation’s top 10 corporate taxpayers with an income tax due of P10.891 billion. In second place is Manila Electric Co. or Meralco with an income tax due of P9.690 billion.

In the 2012, the top 10 list of corporate taxpayers follow: San Miguel Brewery, Inc (P4.879 billion), Nestlé Philippines (P4.810 billion), Chevron Malampaya LLC (P4.516 billion), Shell Philippines Exploration, B.V. (P4.483 billion), Globe Telecom, Inc (P4 billion), PMFTC, Inc (P3.422 billion), Chemwealth, Inc (P2.908 billion), and SM Prime Holdings, Inc (P2.777 billion).

If some companies are so awash in taxable income, why are their shareholders not among the Philippines’ top individual taxpayers, too?

In a report by the Philippine Star, BIR Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares explained new names in BIR’s latest list appeared is because it is based on income reported in the income tax return (ITR) and income subject to withholding tax as compensation income—unlike in the previous years where it was “only based on income in ITR filed.”

This also explains, according to the Jacinto-Henares, why many of the country’s super rich have recently started to figure in the BIR’s list of top individual taxpayers.

The taxwoman cometh again on April 15, the deadline for filing tax returns. Who will make it, who will not, to the top 10 list? – PCIJ, March 2015

 

PNoy’s trust and approval ratings dip

But register highest in Mindanao

THE RATINGS of exiting Philippine President Benigno Simeon Aquino III plunged to historic lows since he assumed the presidency in 2010 amid the controversies surrounding the January 25 Mamasapano tragedy, the 2015 Ulat ng Bayan Survey of Pulse Asia revealed.

Aquino’s overall approval rating went down to 38 percentage points in the survey conducted by Pulse Asia from March 1-7, 2015 — a decrease of 21 percentage points from November last year. His trust ratings, meanwhile, plunged to 36 percentage points, or a 20-point drop from November 2014.

This is also the first time that the President has posted “non-majority” national approval and trust ratings in the surveys conducted by the pollster since October 2010, or immediately after the Aquino assumed the presidency. At the time, Aquino’s trust ratings stood at a high of 80 percentage points while his approval rating was at 79.

President Benigno S. Aquino III graces the 110th Commencement Exercises of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Sundalong Isinilang na may Angking Galing at Lakas, Handang Ipaglaban ang Bayan (Sinaglahi) Class of 2015 at the Fajardo Grandstand, Borromeo Field, Fort General Gregorio del Pilar in Baguio City on Sunday (March 15, 2015). The PMA boast of a long and illustrious history of preparing only the best Filipino men and women for military service. (Photo by Lauro Montillano / Malacañang Photo Bureau)

Filipinos in the National Capital Region gave the president the lowest trust and approval ratings at 24 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

Curiously, in Mindanao where the Mamasapano incident took place, Aquino earned the highest trust and approval ratings, both at 45 percent. In the rest of Luzon, the figures stood at 34 and 36 percent, respectively, while in the Visayas, these were 40 and 41 percent, respectively.

Those belonging to the upper and middle socio-economic classes were the least satisfied with Aquino. Classes ABC gave the president trust and approval ratings of 34 and 35 percent respectively, while those belonging to Class D rated him 34 and 35 percent, respectively.

Those belonging to Class E, the lowest socio-economic class, gave the highest ratings at 42 and 47 percent, respectively.

Breaking down the figures further, Pulse Asia said essentially the same percentage of Filipinos “expressed either appreciation for or were not decided regarding the President’s performance in the past three months (38 percent versus 39 percent) while basically the same percentages either trust him or are ambivalent toward his trustworthiness (36 percent versus 37 percent).”

In a nutshell, around one in four Filipinos is critical of presidential performance (23 percent) and distrusts him (27 percent).

The nationwide survey was based on a sample of 1,200 representative adults aged 18 years old and above. It has a margin of error of plus/minus three percent with a 95 percent confidence level. For Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, the results have a plus/minus six percent margin of error with the same confidence level.

President Benigno S. Aquino III graces the 110th Commencement Exercises of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Sundalong Isinilang na may Angking Galing at Lakas, Handang Ipaglaban ang Bayan (Sinaglahi) Class of 2015 at the Fajardo Grandstand, Borromeo Field, Fort General Gregorio del Pilar in Baguio City on Sunday (March 15, 2015). The PMA boast of a long and illustrious history of preparing only the best Filipino men and women for military service. (Photo by Benhur Arcayan/ Malacañang Photo Bureau

President Benigno S. Aquino III graces the 110th Commencement Exercises of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Sundalong Isinilang na may Angking Galing at Lakas, Handang Ipaglaban ang Bayan (Sinaglahi) Class of 2015 at the Fajardo Grandstand, Borromeo Field, Fort General Gregorio del Pilar in Baguio City on Sunday (March 15, 2015). The PMA boast of a long and illustrious history of preparing only the best Filipino men and women for military service | Benhur Arcayan-Malacañang Photo Bureau

The president’s survey ratings plunged in the four-month period between November 2014 and March 2015 amid problems being faced by his administration. The Mamasapano encounter between members of the Special Action Force, the Moro Islamic Liberation, and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters dominated the headlines before and during the conduct of the field interviews, Pulse Asia said.

Forty-four members of the SAF, 18 fighters of the MILF, and five civilians were killed during the operation codenamed Exodus, which aimed to capture three suspected terrorists hiding in Mamasapano town.

Issues related to the Mamasapano survey that dominated the headlines in the weeks immediately preceding the conduct of the survey were:

  • The declaration by Aquino of January 30, 2015 as a National Day of Mourning for the killed SAF members;
  • The President’s absence during the arrival honors for the 42 of the 44 fallen policemen whose bodies arrived at the Villamor Air Base from Maguindanao;
  • Aquino’s conferment of the Medalya ng Katapangan upon the 44 slain PNP-SAF policemen during the necrological services held as part of the National Day of Mourning;
  • The conduct of several investigations to shed light on what really transpired in Mamasapano and who should be held accountable for the death of the 44 policemen;
  • A proposal for the creation of still another body – an independent truth commission – to conduct a probe into the incident;
  • Amidst the unresolved questions surrounding the Mamasapano incident, calls for the resignation of President Aquino by several senior bishops belonging to the National Transformation Council (NTC), student groups, and other militant organizations;
  • The statement by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) that it is not supportive of such calls even as it favors the creation of a truth commission;
  • The removal of PNP-SAF Commander Getulio Napeñas from his post on January 27, 2015 following the death of 44 of his men during the Mamasapano encounter;
  • The resignation of PNP Director General Alan Purisima on February 5, 2015 amidst reports that he was involved in the decision-making process related to the police operation in Mamasapano whilst under preventive suspension resulting from a graft and corruption charge;
  • Reports that disgruntled members of the country’s armed forces are planning to stage a coup against President Aquino in the aftermath of the Mamasapano incident and expressions of loyalty to the Philippine government by high ranking military and police officers who say that they still have to verify such reports; and
  • Military operations conducted toward the end of February 2015 by the AFP against the BIFF and the Abu Sayyaf in certain areas of Mindanao reportedly to reduce these groups’ ability to carry out violent attacks against civilians. The military offensive has resulted in casualties on both sides as well as the evacuation of thousands of civilians.

Among the other issues hogging the headlines in the weeks preceding the survey were: the retirement of the chairman and two commissioners of the Commission on Elections; the retirement of the chairperson of the Commission on Audit; the acquittal of former Comelec Chairman Benamin Abalos in the electoral sabotage case filed against him in connection with alleged electoral fraud in North Cotabato during the May 2007 polls; the Supreme Court’s reaffirmation of its decision on the Disbursement Acceleration Program as unconstitutional; the freeze order of the assets of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla, Jr.; and the Senate hearings on the allegations of corruption against Vice President Jejomar Binay.