Senate witnesses urged: Be honest

Sen. Richard Gordon reminded those invited at today’s Senate hearing on the P728-million fertilizer fund scam to practice the virtue of honesty as they testify on what they know – and confess any alleged participation – in the anomaly.

“Our parents taught us about the virtue of honesty. I think this should remind us again that we have to be honest at all times. As we always say: Let us be honest even if others will not, even if others cannot, even if others do not,” Gordon said as the Senate Blue Ribbon committee resumes today its investigation into the fertilizer fund scam.

Former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, tagged as the main architect of the fertilizer anomaly, remains under Senate custody after he was cited for contempt for evading questions and giving false testimony during the past hearings.

Subpoenaed for today’s hearing are Julie Gregorio and Reden Antolin, president and vice president of Feshan Philippines, respectively, and Leonicia Marco-Llarena whom Jose Barredo implicated as the financier of Maritess Aytona, Bolante’s alleged runner.

Aytona was also subpoenaed to appear, along with a certain Jimmy Paule, whom Barredo also named as an alleged financier of a fertilizer distributor. The Senate sergeant-at-arms is still locating Aytona and Paule’s whereabouts.

Other resource persons invited are the DA regional directors and Vicente Aquino, executive director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

The Senate Blue Ribbon committee sees a better chance of extracting the truth from those who participated or from those who have direct knowledge of the anomalous deal.

With more witnesses involved in the planning and implementation of the Department of Agriculture’s (DA) Farm Inputs-Farm Implements program now coming out, Gordon said it is just a matter of time to establish the complete truth.

“If all the key witnesses would show up, we will be able to establish the complete truth. There might be arguments and contradictory statements, but we’ll see who’s telling the truth and who’s just spinning tales,” he added.

Gordon also admonished Bolante against hiding the truth, otherwise he will continue to be under detention. He added that Bolante would be freed from detention only if he speaks the truth, or when a case has been filed against him at the Office of the Ombudsman or the justice department for false testimony.

“We only want to hear the truth from Mr. Bolante because he has been telling all these lies before our noses. His time in detention at the Senate might give him time to think clearly and decide to spill out the truth,” Gordon said.

“If he still refuses to tell the truth, then he would remain in

detention. But we have other witnesses who know the truth. We just hope they would not be afraid to speak and instead, they will follow the dictates of their conscience,” he added.