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Wednesday, September 03, 2008
US court junks Bolante's asylum plea
MANILA -- A US court has denied the petition for review of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante, alleged architect of the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, for political asylum.
Besides the fertilizer scam, Bolante is also being linked to the swine scam discovered at the Quedancor, an attached agency of the Department of Agriculture (DA), but is now under the direct supervision of the Office of the President.
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Lawyer Harry Roque, who has been pursuing Bolante's extradition to answer for the fertilizer fund scam, said the decision of the US Court of Appeals (US CA) Seventh Circuit is now the end of the line for Bolante, whom he called "the most notorious presidential friend."
Roque said it is likely that Bolante will elevate the case to the US Supreme Court, which according he will continue to oppose.
"Although Bolante is entitled to go further and appeal to the Supreme Court (SC), it is highly unlikely that the highest court of the US will overturn the denial by the Chicago Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals and the US Court of Appeals," he said.
Roque said the case of Bolante's flight should serve as an example that "crime does not pay and that the truth shall eventually be known."
"Let us now demand from him (Bolante) who ordered - whether his most influential friend, the President (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) or her husband (Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo) - gave instructions to him to perpetuate the swine scam and the fertilizer scam," he said.
The US appellate court affirmed the judgment of the Chicago Immigration Judge and by the Board of Immigration Appeals that Bolante has no any reason to delay his deportation to the Philippines following his detention for an immigration offense.
In an opinion written by Circuit Judge William Bauer, it ruled that Bolante "cannot meet his burden of proof on his asylum claim, withholding of removal (deportation) claim must fail a fortiori."
The US court said Bolante's fear of persecution is objectively unreasonable. "Mr. Bolante has not produced enough specifics or details about the fear of persecution that he faces in the Philippines to carry his burden," the court added.
If the former agriculture official fails to secure a favorable ruling from the US High Court, he will be deported to the Philippines and end his more than two years of detention at the Kenosha County Detention Center in neighboring Wisconsin.
Back in Manila, Bolante will have to face a pending criminal case at the Sandiganbayan and congressional investigations, which issued a warrant for his arrest for allegedly funneling funds intended for the procurement of fertilizers for farmers to the campaign kitty of President Arroyo, who was then running for president in 2004.
On February 9, 2007, the US immigration court denied Bolante's application for asylum because he "failed to meet his burden of past persecution or well-founded fear of future persecution."
Bolante filed an appeal before the Seventh Circuit, saying: "he has met the standards for both asylum and withholding of removal." He argued that he has a "well-founded fear of persecution upon returning to the Philippines, and that the central reasons for persecution were on account of his political opinion and membership in a particular social group."
He further claimed that if he would be forced to return to the country, he would be in grave danger as there is already a bounty of P200,000 raised by the Philippine Senate for his capture, a defense that the US court found unsubstantiated.
"Even if the bounty still exists, it does not show any threat of long-term harm to Bolante; the sole purpose of the bounty is to secure Bolante's testimony before the Senate committee," the US appellate court ruled.
Bolante left the country at the height of the Senate's investigation into the alleged fertilizer scam and was arrested and detained in Los Angeles since July 7, 2006 after airport authorities found him in possession of a revoked US visa.
The visa was revoked after Bolante was tagged by the Senate as the mastermind of the scam. He later applied for political asylum citing persecution by opposition senators. (ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (September 3, 2008 issue)
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