Bolante's joke?

Soon after hearing about his request for asylum from US authorities, a number of Filipinos may have asked, "is Jocjoc playing a joke on us or if not a joke, is Jocjoc Bolante making bola?" No pun intended here, honest.

Why would a very prominent official appointed by GMA to the Department of Agriculture and a very close friend of GMA's husband want to seek asylum?

He is hunted by the NPA, Mr. Bolante says. Is this a joke or Bola or is Joc Bolante really very serious and has evidence to prove his asylum plea?

Why would he be hunted by the NPA? Does he personally think that the NPA want him just as much as the countless farmers who claim they did not receive any fertilizer or fund distributed by the Department of Agriculture that he headed? Who is making bola, who is joking here, the NPA, the farmers or Mr. Jocjoc Bolante?

Did he not deny that he has nothing to hide about the Fertilizer Funds and that he will return immediately to our country from his various international engagements to face the questioning Senate and Filipino people? Was he then again joking us or was he merely making bola when he issued these statements?

Why does he think the NPA is after him if he continues to claim his innocence from all allegations related to the problematic Fertilizer Fund? Isn't Mr. Bolante not compromising his innocence and not contradicting himself by claiming asylum and preferring to stay in a foreign land without clearing his name and his honor first in the Philippines?

If he can prove that the NPA threat to his life is real, why does he seek protection from the American government when he knows very well that GMA, his boss and the wife of his close friend, Mike GMA, has control over the full force of the military as well as all the resources of government to protect him?

Not only because he is their special friend but especially because at the DA, he had performed very well for them by authorizing the Fertilizer Fund that coincided with election time, wouldn't it be logical for Jocjoc to feel so privileged and protected by no less than his former boss, GMA herself and her entire national military and security network?

By telling the US government that he is seeking asylum because he fears the NPA may kill him if he returns to the Philippines, is Mr. Bolante not saying as well that he fears the present GMA administration cannot provide security for one as privileged as him back in the Philippines? Is Mr. Bolante afraid of the NPA or this government?

By seeking asylum from the US government, isn't Mr. Bolante putting the joke on the US that recently just funded the Philippines to run after those who commit corruption in government? If Mr. Bolante claims the fertilizer funds released by his office through local officials were above board, then shouldn't it be best for him to face the Philippine Senate first and prove his innocence to all Filipinos, especially the millions of farmers in this land and show how incorruptible a public servant he had been?

Isn't Mr. Bolante putting the US on the spot if he is given asylum without his going through the justice system back home? Wouldn't the Filipinos and the whole world wonder why the US will grant serious thought or even asylum to one who has yet to explain the truth about his involvement in the questionable Fertilizer Funds?

Ah, but perhaps, time and not asylum, is the real goal of Mr. Bolante and his legal advisers? Whether asylum is granted or not, Jocjoc cannot be sent back to the Philippines immediately to shed light and truth to the Fertilizer Fund as asylum procedures alone may take years to be resolved.

Once again, Legalism is resorted to by a regime that refuses to bring the truth out to the people - the truth about Garci, the truth about the Fertilizer Fund and other questionable deals under GMA.

If Mr. Jocjoc Bolante and his advisers think that through this legal move, the joke is on the Filipino people or on the US this time, it may be wise for them to rethink that perhaps beyond today and the present, their joke and bola may end up in their faces in due time and that no truth is forever hidden? Mr. Jocjoc Bolante himself may also wish to redeem his name away from the image associated with Bola ( lies ) and jokes by coming home to tell the truth and nothing but the truth so God can surely help him?

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