THE Senate will continue to hold former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc Joc” Bolante in its custody as the Senate blue ribbon committee began today its inquiry into the alleged P728 fertilizer fund scam.
“There are still many questions hanging in the air,” said Senate Minority Floor Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. who made the motion this afternoon after Bolante failed to satisfactorily answer queries from the senators, including statements he had given to U.S. authorities in his petition for asylum. The hearing started at 9:50 a.m. and ended at 7:20 p.m. (Download audio files of Bolante’s testimony)
Quoting a U.S. court decision denying Bolante’s petition, Pimentel said the former agriculture undersecretary had cited “vindictive political gainsmanship” and “an all-out campaign to overthrow Arroyo government” as among the reasons for his refusal to return to the Philippines.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, on the other hand, blasted at Bolante for damaging the country’s reputation and putting it in a “shameful situation” with the statements he had made to the U.S. courts and through his forum shopping.
Bolante said, however, this was not his, but the court’s language.
Pimentel also expressed surprise at Bolante’s reply that he did not know that the beneficiaries of the fertilizer fund included prominent supporters of President Gloria Arroyo like former Speaker Jose de Venecia, current Speaker Prospero Nograles, Iloilo’s Augusto Syjuco (now chair of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority), Samar’s Marcelino Libanan (now immigration commissioner), Cebu’s Ramon Durano and Surigao del Sur’s Prospero Pichay.
On questioning by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Bolante said party affiliations were not considered when he drew up the list of recipients.
Enrile, however, found it strange that the Department of Agriculture gave the congressmen, governors and mayor uniform sums of P3 million or P5 million each even when they had submitted different requests and their provinces, districts or towns were not similarly situated.
Bolante said the releases represented “partial allocations” for projects of local governments, many of which, he stressed, were undertaken only after the May 2004 elections, after the DA’s regional field units signed memoranda of agreement with the local executives.
Still, Sen. Richard Gordon pointed out that the money was released during the campaign period, while Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said the money had already been transferred from the DA central office to its field offices before the elections.
“This project was not niche-driven but demand-driven…by politics,” said Gordon, adding that the DA’s failure to ensure the proper use of the funds aggravated the problem.
Bolante repeatedly told the Senate that it was not the DA central office, particularly his office, that oversaw the program, and instead shifted the accountability to the DA field offices and the local government units that got the money. He said he had resigned from the DA when the projects were being implemented. Bolante left government service in August 2004.
His explanation did not sit well with the senators, including Pia Cayetano and Gordon who said this was dereliction of duty.
Sen. Beningo Aquino III, who was among the last to raise questions, asked Bolante the basis for drawing up the list of project proponents for the P728 million fund, saying he was included even when he never submitted any request. He also said his district’s interest was irrigation and not farm inputs.
As the hearing was drawing to a close, Sen. Panfilo Lacson chastised the former agriculture undersecretary for being evasive and said he was not really sick because he endured the eight-hour questioning.
Although he remains in Senate custody, the senators permitted Bolante to go home as well as visit the DA to examine records related to the P728 million fertilizer fund release.—Yvonne T. Chua
Posted at 5:30 p.m., 13 November 2008
Updated at 7:30 p.m., 13 November 2008