Philippines, November 13, 2008
As expected former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn "Jocjoc" Bolante on Thursday morning, November 13, 2008 at the senate hearing belied suspicions that President Arroyo was directly involved in the alleged misuse of the P728-million fertilizer fund.
In replying to Sen. Manuel Roxas II's query if the Chief Executive was in any way involved in the alleged malversation of the multi-million peso fund scam he answere, "President Arroyo has never been involved and is not involved in this particular project of the Department of Agriculture," .
According to Bolante, Mrs. Arroyo could not have been involved in the scam or in the multi-million fertilizer project because it only went as high as the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
The project involves are referred to as the P728-million farm inputs and farm implements processed by DA-DBM only and according to Bolante did not require the approval of Mrs. Arroyo.
Before Bolante was grilled by Sen. Roxas, the former undersecretary broke his almost two and a half years of silence in the fertilizer fund scam by apologizing to the Senate for his failure to attend its hearings in 2005.
He apologizes for the inconvenience of his non-appearance and Bolante assured that it was not out of disrespect nor was it because he had something to hide.
Bolante explained that his failure to attend the 2005-2006 hearings was because the Senate declined to provide him enough consideration. He said there were times he was invited by the Senate a day before the actual hearing.
He added that the Senate's hearings ran counter to his prior appointments abroad in 2005.
The former agriculture undersecretary also denied the accusations of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, then headed by Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., that he masterminded the fertilizer fund scam.
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