House panel to ask for PNP help to arrest Bolante 'runner'

(Update) MANILA, Philippines - The House committee on Agriculture on Tuesday ordered the arrest of Maritess Aytona, the alleged "runner" of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn "Joc-Joc" Bolante, after she failed anew to attend the panel's hearing on the P728-million fertilizer fund scandal. Rep. Crispin Remulla (Cavite) moved for the issuance of a warrant of arrest after the committee found out that that the addresses given by Aytona were all "fictitious." "The only thing to do is to have a warrant of arrest. We have to let go of subpoena as it is impossible to fulfill the requirement," Remulla said. The Agriculture Committee chaired by Rep. Abraham Mitra of Palawan tried to get Aytona in two addresses listed in her name but failed to reach her. In an interview after the hearing, Mitra said the committee decided to issue a warrant of arrest against Aytona because "she has been avoiding the invitations of the committee." "We have done our best so now we will ask help from the Philippine National Police and probably even to National Bureau of Investigation that this warrant of arrest be issued to her and we will ask the Speaker (Prospero Nograles) to sign it," Mitra said. While saying that the next committee hearing would probably be next year with the adjournment of the session on December 19, Mitra said "we will try to have the warrant of arrest be issued the soonest possible time." "We have invited her twice already and there was a motion from a member of the committee and there was no objection so we are inclined to work on that warrant," Mitra said. He said the committee will not allow anybody to beat around the bush and hide the truth from the House of Representatives and the country. "We will exhaust all means to find out the ins and outs of this alleged scam. We will not rest until we find out the truth and make sure that similar occurrences like this will not happen again," Mitra said Asked on the possibility of Aytona being detained in the House if she will be arrested during the Christmas break, Mitra said it will depend on Aytona. "Ilang beses na siyang naimbita e dapat nagpakita na siya kaagad dito, possible(ng madetain sa House). Tignan natin (We have sent her several invites, she should have appeared before the committee. It is possible that she would be detained here. We'll see)," Mitra said. Former and present officials of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) were in the House of Representatives Tuesday afternoon as the committee resumed its hearing on the scam. Attending the hearing were Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya and former Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin along with Bolante, who was tagged as the alleged mastermind of the diversion of fertilizer fund to the campaign kitty of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2004. Also present during the hearing were Ibarra Poliquit, Bolante's former chief of staff and former agriculture assistant secretary; Flerida Jimenez and Nelia Villeza, directors of the Commission on Audit, and Agriculture Undersecretary Edmund Sana. Bolante had earlier cleared the President of any involvement in the controversy and testified that he does not know how the funds were spent by its recipients. But Boncodin, who approved the P728-million Special Allotment Release Order (SARO) for the fertilizer fund program in 2004, had found it dubious that nobody was behind the P728 fertilizer fund mess, adding those behind the scam should be held responsible. During the Tuesday hearing, Boncodin said there was nothing unusual with the release of the P728-million fertilizer fund. "There were many instances that huge amount were released…Maybe there were requests in 2003 that the DBM was not able to satisfy… (so) we released the P728 million chargeable to the 2003 budget. It was a release of a continuing appropriation from the budget of previous year," Boncodin said. Andaya agreed with Boncodin that the P728-million release was not unusually large. "It is well within the program of appropriation for that particular program. Kulang pa nga yung ni-release namin," Andaya said, adding that the original amount requested by the DA was P1.7 billion. "It is not unusual to release P728 million in just one blow," Andaya said. He also confirmed Bolante's statement that the DBM and DA reached an understanding, as stated in a letter of agreement dated January 2004, on the release of P728 million as the government does not have enough fund to release the P1.7 billion fund requested by DA. But what Boncodin found as unusual was the list provided by the DA which showed the provinces and local government units which will be benefited from the fund release. "What might be unusual, if I may suggest, that is the only release that I could think of that showed a breakdown by district, by province, by LGU (local government unit)…In that particular request, even I wondered why there was such a list," Boncodin said. "That is the only thing that caught my attention," Boncodin added. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV