MANILA — On the 14th anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre, one of its main perpetrators, Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr., was convicted of 21 counts of graft over the supply of fuel to the Maguindanao provincial government from a petroleum station he owned.

The Sandiganbayan Sixth Division sentenced him to between 6 yrs and 1 month to 10 years for each of the 21 counts, or between 127 years and 9 months to 210 years in jail in total.

The anti-graft court also ordered him to pay up to P44.18 million as value of the undelivered fuel plus interest of 6 percent per annum.

He is perpetually disqualified from holding public office.

The case stemmed from the Maguindanao provincial government’s decision to buy diesel fuel from Ampatuan’s petrol station in Shariff Aguak when his father was still the governor in 2008. He was charged in his personal capacity.

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The court found that he conspired with his father, the late Andal Ampatuan, Sr. and several government officials to award the contract for the purchase of fuel to his petroleum station without any bidding and in releasing public funds despite no completely delivery of the goods purchased.

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“[T]he Shariff Aguak Petron Station charged the Provincial Government of Maguindanao for the purported deliveries of a total of 1,141,539 liters of Petro Diesel in 2008. However, it could not have delivered the said quantity of fuel products because in the same year, Petron Corporation delivered only 618,000 liters of diesel fuel to accused Ampatuan, Jr.’s Petron station. Even assuming that Shariff Aguak Petron Station still had fuel left from year 2007, it could have delivered only 649,000 liters at most,” the court said.

The fuel products were supposed to be used in road rehabilitation projects but the COA special audit team found that none of these projects were completed.

Despite the failure to completely deliver the fuel products, the provincial government certified that the projects were 100 percent completed and paid Ampatuan the full amount.

The court described the scheme as done with “evident bad faith” or with “palpably and patently fraudulent and dishonest purpose,” which resulted in “giving unwarranted benefits” to Ampatuan’s petroleum station.

“While the Court cannot determine if there was no delivery at all or if there was only partial delivery of the fuel products to the Provincial Government of Maguindanao, the said acts of the accused also undoubtedly cause undue injury to the Provincial Government of Maguindanao because public funds were released as payment for goods not completely delivered,” it said.

Aside from Ampatuan, his 2 co-accused Omar Camsa and Samsudin Sema were also ordered to pay up to P1.6 million and P9.12 million each as part of the value of the undelivered fuel.

Camsa was found guilty of 1 count of falsification of public document and sentenced to between 6 to 7 years jail time and fined P5,000.

Sema was also found guilty of 3 counts of the same charge and sentenced to a total of between 18 to 21 years and fined P15,000.

Camsa and Sema attended the promulgation while Ampatuan attended via videoconference. He is currently serving a sentence for multiple counts of murder in connection with the Maguindanao massacre.

• How some Ampatuans got away with murder, why others did not

Another accused, Datuali Kamakan Abpi, was also found guilty of 1 count of graft, 19 counts of falsification and 1 count of malversation in connection with the Maguindanao provincial government’s purchase of lumber but the anti-graft court asked prosecutors to confirm his reported death, as well as that of another accused at large, Osmeña Bandila.

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