FUNDS HELD
Court freezes for 6 months about P76 million in assets of suspected drug lord Franz Sabalones. Anti-Money Laundering Council, PDEA behind move against ex-traffic enforcer.
A freeze order was issued by the Court of Appeals (CA) in Manila against the assets of alleged drug lord Franz Cabilao Sabalones, who surrendered to Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa last year.
The order is valid for six months.
Covered by the CA Eighth Division’s resolution are Sabalones’ three bank accounts, one Banco de Oro and two Wealth Bank accounts, and six real properties.
Four of the properties are in the barangays of Balud and Tabionan in San Fernando, Cebu; one in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City; and one in Barangay Poblacion III in Carcar City.
Associate Justices Japar Dimaampao, Carmelita Manahan and Franchito Diamante granted the order on Jan. 19, 2017, a day after the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which was represented by the Office of the Solicitor General, filed a petition to freeze certain bank accounts and real properties of Sabalones.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Visayas received the order last Monday.
The resolution stated that the court found probable cause that the subject bank accounts and properties are “related to an unlawful activity or money laundering as defined under Republic Act 9160,” or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2001.
The order is “effective immediately,” directing the banks and government agencies to “desist from allowing any transaction, withdrawal, transfer, removal, conversion, concealment, or other disposition of the bank accounts and all related accounts as well as real properties, wherever they may be found.”
The freeze order is “an extraordinary and interim relief issued by the CA” to “prevent the owner from disposing of his property and thwarting the State’s effort in building its case and eventually filing civil forfeiture proceedings and/or prosecuting the owner.”
Section 4 of the AMLA states that “money laundering is a crime whereby the proceeds of an unlawful activity as defined in the law are transacted, thereby making them appear to have originated from legitimate sources.”
Sabalones can file a motion to lift the freeze order before the Supreme Court, which can issue temporary restraining order or a writ of injunction.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 said the case against Sabalones is airtight.
“It will impact his capability to conduct future businesses. Our attention is focused not only on the confiscation of the drugs, but also on their financial capability so that it will stop their illegal business,” PDEA 7 Director Yogi Filemon Ruiz said.
Sabalones will not be able to sell and transfer his assets and properties to another individual, and if it’s that it’s drug money, the money will go to the government.
Ruiz said the freeze order is a warning to other drug personalities that the government can still run after their drug money.
“It will discourage and deter those who are planning to make a business out of drugs. Just find a way to hide them. We will still trace them so continue doing them,” he said.
“It will be the government who’ll grow rich from your transactions,” he said.
It will be the government who will grow rich from your (drug) transactions. DIRECTOR YOGI FILEMON RUIZ PDEA 7