Jocjoc may face plunder, malversation raps before Ombudsman

Former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante may face plunder and malversation of public funds charges.

House of Representatives Deputy Majority Leader Jesus Crispin Remulla said yesterday he would recommend to the committee on agriculture that Bolante and former agriculture assistant secretary Ibarra Poliquit Jr. be charged with plunder and malversation of public funds before the Office of the Ombudsman.

“These two were the ones principally responsible for diverting more than P100 million of the funds to recipients who were not in the original list of proponents,” he told reporters.

Remulla, a Cavite lawmaker, exposed the substitution of scores of names during yesterday’s third hearing on the fertilizer scam.

Upon his motion, the committee on agriculture chaired by Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra voted to ask Speaker Prospero Nograles to issue an arrest warrant for Maritess Aytona, Bolante’s alleged runner.

During the hearing, Remulla asked Bolante who substituted 23 names in his list of fund proponents submitted to the Department of Budget and Management on Feb. 2, 2004.

“Of the 181 proponents, 23 did not avail themselves of their allocations,” Bolante answered Remulla.

“We gave the money to others.”

The list was part of Bolante’s request for the release of P728 million, which he got the following day, Feb. 3.

Bolante listed 105 House members, 52 governors, one vice governor, and 23 town mayors or a total of 181 as fertilizer fund “proponents.”

He later pointed to Poliquit as the one who knew the other details of the substitution and of the projects financed out of the P728-million fund.

Bolante was in charge of finance, while Poliquit was assistant secretary for operations.

They were both transferred to the Government Service Insurance System after the scam.

But Poliquit tossed the blame on Bolante. “It was the office of the undersecretary for finance that made the changes (in the list of proponents).”

Remulla said among House members whose allocations were “malversed” was that of La Union Rep. Victor Ortega, who was allotted P5 million.

“Assuming the 23 were each allocated P5 million, the total amount malversed was P115 million,” he said. 

“That qualifies Mr. Bolante and Mr. Poliquit for plunder.”

Responding to Remulla’s queries, former budget secretary Emilia Boncodin said whoever made the substitution violated the law.

“They submitted a list of beneficiaries to the DBM, they should have followed that list,” she said. “They cannot change the beneficiaries. Otherwise, the listing was useless.”

Boncodin said what the concerned agriculture officials should have done was to go back to the Budget Department and request a realignment of funds.

Commission on Audit Director Flerida Jimenez refused to describe the diversion of funds as “technical malversation,” as Remulla put it.

“I am not a lawyer so I don’t know if it is technical malversation,” she said. “But the money was spent without authority.”

Boncodin agreed with Jimenez.

Mitra said agriculture officials should have followed the example of then Bukidnon lawmaker and now Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri who requested that his allocation of P5 million be appropriated for a farm-to-market road.

That should have been the proper procedure followed in the realignment of funds that were not availed of by the original proponents, Boncodin said.

Senators to decide Jocjoc’s fate today

Senators are to decide today whether to arrest and detain Bolante for supposedly “lying” during the hearings on the fertilizer fund scam.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson had suggested that Bolante be detained at the Senate or the Pasay City Jail.

Twelve senators have signed a motion seeking to detain Bolante.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago backed the proposal to send Bolante to the Pasay City Jail.

Sen. Richard Gordon, Senate Blue Ribbon committee chairman, said Bolante’s credibility was stained again when he told the Senate that he lost his passport on his return home from the US last Oct. 28.

“If one loses his passport one ought to right away go out and issue a letter to the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) and say I have lost my passport, so that they would know,” he said.

Bolante told the Blue Ribbon committee hearing that he had instructed his lawyer to write a letter informing the DFA about his lost passport.

However, Gordon read to Bolante a certification from the passport division of the DFA stating that passport number ZZ130689 has been issued to Bolante and that the passport holder had not reported its loss to the DFA.                  – With Aurea Calica