Yap washes hands off Bolante fertilizer fund scam claim
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/14/2008 9:53 AM
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Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said Friday that he is not the undersecretary for operations being referred to by former undersecretary Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante as the official who may have had knowledge of the distribution of funds in the P728-million fertilizer project in 2004.
"I am denying it. We need to clarify that there were three undersecretaries for operations in 2004. Specifically Secretary [Cito] Lorenzo had direct orders on what I should do when I entered [as undersecretary] on March [of 2004]," Yap told ABS-CBN's morning show, "Umagang Kay Ganda."
Yap said he was administrator of the National Food Authority when Lorenzo invited him to hold the DA undersecretary for operations in a concurrent position. He said Lorenzo wanted him to help the DA solve issues besieging poultry and hog raisers.
"Parang binigyan ka lang ng titulo para makatulong ka sa problema sa poultry at hog, tapos biglang napunta sa fertilizer? (I was only given a title to help in the poultry and hog problems, and suddenly I'm being involved in the fertilizer [scam]?)" the secretary said.
Yap said that the Senate Blue-Ribbon Committee should ask Bolante in the next hearing for the name of the undersecretary that he was alluding to.
The DA secretary said that he was involved in the scam, his named could have cropped up during the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food's investigation nearly three years ago.
During his face-off with the Senate panel Thursday, Bolante denied that he was involved in the multi-million peso anomaly.
Bolante said he could not have known the anomaly because he was already resigned when the funds were distributed to local government officials. He added that the distribution and implementation of the funds were designated to the department's undersecretary for operations and regional directors.
Cover-up
Senators had said that Bolante was obviously trying to cover up the anomaly by making false testimonies during the hearing.
Bolante said the funding for the farm inputs and farm implements does not need approval of the president.
“President Arroyo is not and has not been involved in this kind of project... It is an old funding activity of the Department of Agriculture,” Bolante told the Senate panel headed by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.
The former agriculture undersecretary, who is currently under Senate custody, also cleared the names of local officials and congressmen who were identified as proponents of the fertilizer funds. He also said President Arroyo was not involved.
A total of 103 congressmen, 53 provincial governors and 23 mayors were identified as among those who availed of the funds.
Sen. Mar Roxas, in a separate Umagang Kay Ganda interview, said Bolante's statement about Mrs. Arroyo was impossible as he personally knew the president as a micro-manager.
The senator, who served as Mrs. Arroyo's trade and industry secretary, said it would be impossible for the multi-million fund to escape Mrs. Arroyo's knowledge.
