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Thursday, July 13, 2006
Fugitive ex-agriculture exec arrested in US
FORMER agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante was arrested on July 7 by immigration authorities of the US due to a visa-related case, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported on Wednesday.
DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque said the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) immediately informed the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, California by phone on the day Bolante was arrested.
Citing the formal consular notification sent by the INS to INS to Consul General Willy Gaa, Asuque said Bolante, upon his arrival from Seoul, South Korea via Asiana Airlines, was arrested by the US immigration authorities on the basis of a cancelled B1/B2 business visa
Gaa received the notification on July 10, Monday (LA time), three days after Bolante's arrest.
“The immigration officer cancelled the business visa of Mr. Bolante which is the reason for his arrest. The INS did not elaborate. They said it’s visa related. The US immigration has the right to cancel a person’s visa. It’s the decision of the immigration,” Asuque said.
He said the DFA has no order to cancel Bolante’s passport, that’s why he was able to travel.
Pressed if the arrest was connected to the hold departure order issued by the Senate following Bolante’s alleged involvement in P728 million fertilizer scam, Asuque said the consulate has yet to have details on the reason for Bolante’s arrest.
“We will only know the reason why he was arrested after the hearing. We will ensure that all out consular assistance will be given to him, as part of legal assistance. The consulate will keep track of developments of Bolante’s case and will still provide him assistance,” he said.
Gaa immediately sent legal officer, Noemi Diaz, at San Pedro Detention Center to ensure that Bolante’s rights are recognized, Asuque said.
In October last year, Bolante was slapped with contempt after ignoring Senate hearings on the anomalous disbursement of public funds meant for farmers but were allegedly channeled to the campaign kitty of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and of administration-friendly lawmakers in the 2004 elections.
Former agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo, along with some DA officials, are also facing the same charges as recommended by the Senate committee on agriculture and food chaired by Senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr.
He flew to the US on December 12, the day when Senate conducted its fifth hearing on the fertilizer scam.
In Malacañang, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the government would extend assistance to Bolante but it would not include paying the US$100,000 bond imposed by the US court for his temporary liberty.
Ermita said he has yet to receive report on Bolante’s arrest but the government does not intend to lift a finger to assist him, particularly in paying the bond.
He said any assistance that would be extended to Bolante would be similar to the type of aid that they give to ordinary Filipino citizens. He said it is the
duty of the Philippine consulate to see to the condition and needs of Filipinos abroad.
Asked if Malacañang is worried or even bothered that the Senate might revive its investigations on the fertilizer fund issue now that Bolante is arrested, Ermita said he sees no reason why they should be bothered.
“We don’t have anything to do whatsoever with what the Senate may have charged him with and the subject of the investigation in the Senate, so there’s no reason for Malacañang to be bothered,” he added.
Meanwhile, Senator Magsaysay on Wednesday expressed concern that some groups will do anything to prevent the extradition of Bolante from the US.
“There are powerful personalities that will see to it that he would not come back,” Magsaysay said in a briefing. “I think these groups know their problem when Mr. Bolante started to talk, they might be dragged in the issue.”
The senator said he will send Thursday a letter to the US Immigration Authority “to secure” Bolante.
“He’s not secured of his life,” Magsaysay said. “So we would like to ask the US Government, particularly the immigration office there to see to it that Mr. Bolante be given his basic rights and to having his own lawyer,” he added
The senator will also ask the US Government to extradite Bolante to face his plunder case with the Office of the Ombudsman. He believed that the extradition of Bolante will happen in a month since the former agriculture official still has to face his charges in the US.
Magsaysay urged the Ombudsman to act on the plunder case against Bolante, Lorenzo and other DA officials that the Senate recommended last March. “They (Ombudsman officials) have been sitting down on the charges, they’re not doing anything,” he added.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., for his part, said Bolante could become a state witness in the fertilizer fund anomaly. He also urged Bolante to resign as treasurer of the Rotary Club International.
“Good development. It will give Bolante a chance to clarify where the over P1 billion fertilizer money for the farmers went and who benefited from it,” Pimentel said.
Magsaysay agreed with Pimentel that Bolante might become a state witness but said it depends on the Arroyo administration “if they want the truth to come out but it’s obvious that the government is not cooperating in this case.”
The senator said the P200,000 reward will be given to the one who provided information that led to the arrest of Bolante in the US. (ECV/JMR/REC/Sunnex)
(July 13, 2006 issue)
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