MANILA - The Court of Appeals (CA) has issued a 20-day freeze order on the bank accounts of Indanan, Sulu Mayor Alvarez Isnaji and his two sons Haider and Khan Isnaji after they were accused of protecting the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.

In a six-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro,  the CA’s Special Third Division granted the ex-parte petition filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) seeking the issuance of freeze order against the bank accounts of the Isnajis at the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Philippine National Bank (PNB).

The CA said there is reasonable ground to believe that the Isnajis may have deposited part of the P20 million ransom money intended for the release of ABS-CBN news anchor Cecilia Orena-Drilon and his assistants Jimmyfred Encarnacion and Angelo Valderrama in the said bank accounts.

Covered by the said freeze order are the bank accounts of Alvarez with  account no. 371048847 at Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) Cotabato Branch.  Account nos. 5145076295 and 6708103037 at the Philippine National Bank (PNB).

“As such, the issuance of the freeze order prayed for by the AMLC is warranted, in order to prevent the above-mentioned banks from allowing any transactions, withdrawals, deposits, transfers, removal, conversion, or other movements or concealments of the accounts,” the resolution stated.

Concurring with the ruling were Associate Justices Martin S. Villarama, Jr. and Vicente Veloso.                    

“Wherefore, this Court hereby orders the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Philippine National Bank to immediately freeze for a period of 20 days the bank accounts, or related we accounts, subject of this petition, and to submit to the Court and to the Anti-Money Laundering Council, within 24 hours…a detailed return on their compliance with it,” the CA said.

The CA earlier dismissed the writ of habeas corpus petition being sought by the Isnajis who were earlier implicated by the government in connection of the kidnapping  Drilon and her news team.

The CA also said their detention was in pursuant to the law and keeping with due process

The Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered the prosecution of the Isnajis after finding probable cause to charge them for kidnapping with ransom.

Drilon and her team went to Jolo, Sulu purposely to interview Radulan Sahiron, who is tagged as the new leader of the Abu Sayyaf.

The supposed interview was arranged by Muslim Prof. Octavio Dinampo, who claimed to have seen and talked to Sahiron in February 2008. Thus, on June 7, 2008, the team proceeded to the area to meet with Sahiron.

The team, however, failed to conduct the interview as they were abducted by another group of Abu Sayyaf who held them captives for 10 days before being released. The Isnajis offered to negotiate for the release of Drilon and her crew.