(Update) Bolante clears Yap, lawmakers, local officials
by JESUS F. LLANTO, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 11/18/2008 11:18 PM
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Except for denying that he was the one who linked Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap to the P728 million fertilizer fund scam, there was nothing new in the testimony of former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante at the house committee hearing on Tuesday.
In his first appearance at the hearing of the House committee on food and agriculture, Bolante, a former agriculture undersecretary for finance, reiterated his previous statements during last week’s investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee.
The former undersecretary just repeated his previous statements that there was no scam involved in the release of the fund, and he cleared President Gloria Arroyo, lawmakers and local officials implicated by the scandal.
During last week’s Senate hearing, Bolante said that the release of the P728 million was a regular funding activity of the DA and did not need the approval of the president. He added that the names of the lawmakers and local officials were just used to identify the focal persons responsible for the money.
A total of 103 congressmen, 53 provincial governors and 23 mayors were identified as among those who availed of the funds.
“Not a single centavo was released to the congressmen, governors and mayors,” said Bolante adding that his only role was to coordinate with the Department of Budget and Management the release of the fund and to transfer it to the regional field units (RFUs).
Face off
At Tuesday’s hearing, Bolante came face-to-face with DA secretary Arthur Yap, who had earlier denied involvement in the controversy and denied he was the one who linked Yap to the issue. Bolante said it was the media that made it appear that it was him who said that Yap was involved in the scam.
“I, my superiors and members of this body, are victims of lies and misinformation. The most recent misinformation is the report that I accused Sec. Arthur Yap as responsible for the P728 million farm inputs and farm implements fund in 2004,” Bolante said in his opening statement.
“I could not remember that Secretary Yap is involved in the DA field operations or in the implementation of the P728 million fund,” Bolante said. He added that the designation of Yap as undersecretary of operations was for a very short period of time.
Bolante, who was tagged as the architect of the scam, also met some of the lawmakers who were either identified as proponents or recipients of the fertilizer funds.
Some lawmakers grabbed the opportunity to clear themselves and their relatives from the controversy.
Reps. Arthur Defensor (Iloilo, 3rd District), Victor Ortega (La Union, 1st District), Victor Agbayani (Pangasinan, 2nd District) denied receiving any money from the controversial fund. Rep. Milagros Magsaysay (Zambales, 1st District), meanwhile, said her father—former Zambales governor Vicente Magsaysay—also did not benefit from the fund.
Meanwhile, Rep. Antonio del Rosario of Capiz revealed that when he was still mayor of Roxas City, two people who were allegedly agents of Bolante, identified as Marites Aytona and Jose Barredo, offered him 30 percent of the P5 million funds for his city. Del Rosario said the agents told him that another 30 percent would go to Bolante and the remaining 40 percent would be used to buy the fertilizers.
Bolante, however, denied that he knows Barredo.
Disbursement and procurement
The hearing was temporarily suspended and committee chair Abraham Mitra said that they were planning to invite former officials from the budget and agriculture department to shed a light on the controversy.
When abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak asked if the continuing House probe would become a duplication of Senate investigation, Mitra said their succeeding investigation would not just focus on the culpability of the officials involved. “There are similarities but we will be focusing on the process, disbursement and procurement.”
“We are really waiting for the testimony of former Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin,” Mitra told abs-cbnNews.com/Newbsreak. Boncodin, who was Department of Budget and Management (DBM) secretary when the fund was released, has been invited twice by the committee but she was not able to attend the two hearings because of her classes at the University of the Philippines and a seminar.
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano, meanwhile, asked the committee to also invite former Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo and DBM undersecretary Mario Relampagos. Mariano said Lorenzo could tell the committee the extent of the power given to Bolante while Boncodin and Relampagos can tell them the source of the fund.
