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Saturday, October 25, 2008
'Public vigilance' sought on Bolante's arrival
MANILA -- A lawyer who confirmed Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante's arrival from the US Tuesday appealed for public vigilance to prevent what he calls as another "Lozada incident".
Bolante is the former agriculture undersecretary who was tagged as the architect in the misuse of the P728-million fertilizer fund, which instead of going to farmers for agricultural production, was allegedly diverted to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's election campaign in 2004. He was detained in the US for an immigration offense.
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Lawyer Harry Roque, who fought in court Bolante's bid for political asylum in the US, confirmed Friday Bolante's arrival next week as he called for public vigilance lest President Arroyo's administration tries to "do a Lozada" on him and keep him from public sight.
According to Roque, the former agriculture official will arrive in Manila at 11 p.m. Tuesday onboard North West Airlines Flight 71.
"We will ask Filipinos who will also board the same flight to Manila to send us text messages every step of the way so as to make sure that nothing of the Lozada incident will happen," he said.
Roque was referring to Rodolfo Noel "Jun" Lozada Jr., a witness in the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) contract with China's ZTE Corporation, who said he was whisked off at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) upon arrival from Hong Kong last February to prevent him from testifying on the dubious contract at the Senate hearing.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. meantime said he wants Bolante, once he arrives, to be brought first to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for two days' debriefing.
But Roque said Bolante should be brought to the Senate since it is the legislative body that issued the arrest for the former agriculture official.
"We are asking the Senate to place Mr. Bolante in their custody. He should answer the people's questions on the alleged misuse of the P728-million fertilizer fund," Roque said.
Last Wednesday, Bolante asked the Supreme Court (SC) to nullify the Senate's order for his arrest.
He told the high court that the Senate has already finished its investigation into the matter, thus the arrest order issued on December 12, 2005 is already moot and academic.
He stressed that there is no longer any reason why he should be compelled to appear before the Senate.
However, Senator Francisco "Kiko" Pangilinan insisted the validity of the Senate-issued arrest warrant against Bolante.
"I stand by my position that unless later withdrawn by a majority of the members of the agriculture committee, the warrant of arrest remains valid and enforceable because the Senate is a continuing body and any issuances remain in force until withdrawn," Pangilinan was quoted as saying.
Pangilinan added that the Senate can arrest Bolante anytime upon his return from the US.
The Senate had recommended the filing of plunder charges against Bolante, calling the misuse of the fertilizer fund a "grand agricultural theft."
Bolante was arrested at the Los Angeles international airport in July 2006 after arriving from Seoul, South Korea due to a canceled US visa.
The US Embassy in Manila wrote Bolante telling him that his non-immigrant visa is no longer valid for travel.
He, however, applied for political asylum for his continued stay in the US apparently to avoid arrest in Manila, but the US courts denied it.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals (CA) First Division has denied the motion of a state-run firm seeking to lift the freeze order sought by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on Bolante's bank accounts.
It affirmed its August 19, 2008 decision that extended the freeze order on 32 of 70 bank accounts of Bolante until December 20 to enable the AMLC to complete its investigation.
The appellate court denied for lack of merit the motion for reconsideration of Livelihood Corporation (Livecor), contending that there was no connection between the bank accounts of Bolante to the questioned transfer of funds of the company.
Livecor also alleged that there is no concrete proof that Bolante's bank accounts are related to the bank accounts of the corporation or to fertilizer funds.
The CA further said the grounds relied by Livecor in its motion for reconsideration were mere rehash of its arguments that were already passed upon and resolved by the court last August 19.
Concurring with the ruling were CA Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr. and Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin.
In its August 19 decision, the CA granted the ex-parte petition of the AMLC to extend the freeze order, which lapsed last August 20.
The extension, in effect, gave the AMLC fresh four months until December 20 to complete its investigation.
It removed from the coverage of the freeze order more than 30 other accounts in various banks and institutions after it was learned that these accounts have already been "cancelled, written off, closed or expired."
The extended freeze order now covers accounts and insurance policies at Banco de Oro Universal Bank, Citibank, N.A., East-West Bank, Maybank Phils. Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, Insular Life Assce. Company, Pru Life Insurance Corp. of UK, Manufacturers Life Ins. Co., BPI/MS Insurance Corp., Performance Foreign Exchange Corp., Prudential Bank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Union Bank of the Philippines, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, and Standard Chartered Bank. (AH/ECV/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Davao. (October 25, 2008 issue)
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