CONTROVERSIAL former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc Joc” Bolante cleared today President Gloria Arroyo of involvement in the approval and release of P728 million in fertilizer funds purportedly diverted to her campaign kitty in the 2004 presidential elections.
“President Arroyo has never been involved and is not involved in this particular project of the Department of Agriculture,” he told a Senate blue ribbon committee probing the alleged fertilizer fund scam.
Appearing for the first time before the Senate since the scandal broke in 2005, Bolante said the release of the fund was requested by then Agriculture Secretary Luisito Lorenzo in September 2003 from the DA’s 2003 regular budget, and processed and approved in February 2004 by the Department of Budget and Management. Presidential approval was not needed, he said.
Bolante, dubbed as the “architect” or “brains” in the supposed scam, fled to the U.S. at the height of the Senate inquiry in 2005 and petitioned for asylum. He was deported and arrived in Manila last Oct. 28.
Senators expressed incredulity at the statements Bolante made to the Senate, including his allegations that:
- He was unaware of irregularities such as the kickbacks, overpricing and a favored supplier (Feshan Philippines) in the purchases of the fertilizers, saying his office simply “downloaded” the funds to the regional field units for release to the project proponents who included 105 congressmen, 53 congressmen and 23 mayors. He said the project proponents bought the fertilizers on their own.
- The fund was not a “unique” fund, but has been a regular, longrunning activity of the DA. He said fertilizers were among the farms input and implements regularly procured as part of the DA’s banner programs.
- His office drew up the list of project proponents based on pending requests to prevent unscrupulous businessmen from brokering the release of the funds.
- The list of recipients attached to Feb. 11, 2004 Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) for P1.1 billion of farm inputs, which formed part of the Commission on Audit findings on the fertilizer fund scam, was “bogus.”
- Non-agricultural Metro Manila local governments were among the recipients as part of urban agriculture and gardening programs supported by the DA. He said Reps. Eduardo Zialcita of Paranaque, Ricky Sandoval of Malabon-Navotas and Nanette Daza of Quezon City had gotten funding.
- First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, whom he said he knows, had no hand in his appointment in February 2001 as finance undersecretary for finance at the DA.
- No one outside his family had tried to get in touch with him “directly or indirectly” when he was detained in the U.S.
Bolante also said he had received death threats but refused to elaborate, saying he would do so in an executive session. When the hearing resumed in the afternoon, the former agriculture secretary said most of the messages were in Filipino, including one that said: “Pag hindi tama ang sinabi niya sa hearing sa Senado, alam namin ang kanyang schedule, at dudukutin naman siya (If he says the wrong things in the Senate, we know his schedule and will get him).“
The senators, including administration senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, said it was difficult to believe that Bolante, as an undersecretary, could have had so much authority to dispose of P728 million.
Sen. Mar Roxas said it was unlikely that President Arroyo, known for being a micro-manager, not to have a role in the release or disposal of the fund.
He also recalled former Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin’s testimony before the 13th Congress. Asked if the fund was released on Arroyo’s instructions, she had said: “I would imagine so.”
Roxas added that the fertilizer fund used to be P28 million but ballooned to P728 million in 2004, an election year.
Sen. Francis Escudero, whose father was a former agriculture secretary, said the fertilizer fund was relatively new among the DA activities, contrary to Bolante’s claim, and is not even provided for in the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act. Later in the day, Bolante said the fertilizer purchases fell under AFMA’s provisions for rice, corn and high-valued crops.
Santiago pointed out the DA’s failure to follow government procurement requirements such as the holding of public biddings, and expressed disbelief that almost all the recipients of the fertilizer fund bought from one supplier.
Quoting a witness, Santiago also said nearly all the fertilizer fund had been gone to kickbacks. Bolante said, however, 91 percent of the money had been liquidated. The Senate was told the information came from DA undersecretary for finance Belinda Gonzales.
In a statement he read at the start of the inquiry, Bolante denied he had snubbed the Senate’s invitation to appear before the congressional hearings.
He said he left for the U.S. to honor commitments he had long made but became “disinclined” to testify before Congress when the Senate committee on agriculture release an interim report recommending that graft and plunder charges be filed against him for the misuse of the funds. He said he had been prejudged.
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who inhibited himself from the hearings, read a statement confirming he was offered P5 million from the fertilizer fund. But he said he declined the offer and asked instead for farm-to-market roads for his district.
Zubiri also lambasted a newspaper for saying he had tried to block the Senate inquiry.—Yvonne T. Chua
First posted at 1:45 p.m., 13 November 2008
Updated at 3:30 p.m., 13 November 2008