Wednesday, November 05, 2008 Bolante withdraws 2006 petition
FORMER agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante on Tuesday withdrew the petition he filed in 2006 before the Supreme Court (SC), saying intervening circumstances have mooted his petition.
His move came a day after his son Owen filed a habeas corpus petition at the Court of Appeals (CA).
In a four-page motion to withdraw petition, Bolante said his arrest last week upon his return from a two-year detention in the US has rendered the ex-parte urgent motion for the issuance of temporary restraining order (TRO) moot and academic.
The new motion filed by Bolante's lawyer Antonio Zulueta is separate from another motion filed just hours earlier that sought only to withdraw the urgent motion for the issuance of a TRO against the warrant of arrest issued by the Senate for his failure to attend hearings in connection with the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.
Bolante said pursuing the case at the SC might only be construed as forum shopping, especially after his son's filing of a petition for habeas before the appellate court last Monday praying for his immediate release.
"Although petitioner still believes on the merit of this petition, he is now constrained to ask for the withdrawal of the instant petition so as to avoid the impression that he is resorting to forum shopping. This is, however, without prejudice on the part of the petitioner to avail of his legal rights against respondents and all others who have caused his unlawful arrest and continued detention," he said.
The beleaguered former official said the habeas corpus case at the CA is more expeditious and effective remedy to prevent the continued deprivation of his liberty.
He further said that under the present circumstances, a TRO can no longer be granted by the SC.
Bolante earlier asked the high court to issue a TRO and writ of preliminary injunction against the December 12, 2005 order of arrest issued by the Senate committee on Agriculture and Food and the Blue Ribbon committee for being "unconstitutional, illegal, and contrary to existing jurisprudence."
He also sought to stop the Senate sergeant-at-arms from implementing his arrest by virtue of the October 27 order issued by Senate President Manuel Villar for his failure to attend the committee hearings probing the alleged misuse of the agriculture funds.
He insisted that the Senate has no power to issue warrants of arrest citing as basis Section 2, Article 3 of the 1987 Constitution, which states that only a judge can issue warrants of arrest.
Bolante likewise claimed that under Section 21 of Art. 6, the Senate and House of Representatives may only conduct hearings in aid of legislation in accordance with the "published rules of procedure."
According to him, the Senate during that time failed to publish its rules prior to the issuance of the December 12, 2005 order of arrest. It only published its rules in two newspapers with general circulation only on December 1, 2006.
Furthermore, assuming that the order of arrest was lawfully issued, the same was rendered moot by the filing of the two Senate committees of their final report into the scam to the Office of the Ombudsman for determination of whether charges should be filed against them in court.
In the habeas corpus suit filed by his son Owen, he challenged the validity of the Senate's arrest warrant, claiming the arrest order issued by the 13th Congress in 2005 is already functus officio, or can no longer be enforced as the body who issued it is already dissolved following the 2007 senatorial elections.
Bolante, tagged as the master architect of the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, fled to the US at the height of the investigation mounted in 2005 by the respondent Senate committees. However, he was deported last Tuesday after the US government turned down his plea for political asylum.
The money from the agriculture fund was originally intended for the procurement of fertilizer, equipment and other farm implements but was allegedly misused to bankroll the candidacy of administration bets in the 2004 elections.
Bolante was cited in contempt and subsequently ordered to be arrested on December 12, 2005 after he failed to attend the joint committee hearings scheduled on October 6, 26, and November 17, 24, and December 12, 2005, despite subpoenas sent to him.
He then left the country on December 11, 2005, but while reentering the US sometime in July 2006, he was arrested and detained by US immigration authorities on the ground that his US visa had been cancelled. His visa was revoked after he was tagged by the Senate as the mastermind of the scam.
On trial for deportation, the embattled former official stated his desire to stay on in the US as he is being politically persecuted in the Philippines, but this argument was repeatedly denied by US authorities and courts for lack of merit.
After being detained for more than two years, the US government issued an Order of Removal and/or Order of Deportation against the petitioner. (ECV/Sunnex)
