SEN. Alan Peter Cayetano will summon former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante to appear before a Senate inquiry when the latter is deported from the United States, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported Friday.
“If Jocjoc becomes available, I will not hesitate to call him on the aspect of the anomaly on good governance,” Cayetano, who chairs the Senate blue ribbon committee, told the Inquirer. “I will not hesitate to initiate it if that is what it takes.”
The senator said he could initiate an inquiry into the P728-million fertilizer fund scam in relation to good governance. Or he could summon Bolante to the blue ribbon committee hearings on the swine scam in which the former agriculture undersecretary has also been implicated, he said.
During the 13th Congress, the Senate committee on agriculture recommended the filing of plunder charges against Bolante for his alleged role in diverting the fertilizer funds to President Gloria Arroyo’s 2004 political campaign.
The former agriculture secretary left the country in 2005 at the height of the Senate probe. He has been in detention in the U.S. for violating the terms of his visa. The U.S. court has junked his petition for political asylum.