Palace denies Arroyo slept on fertilizer fund mess

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang on Monday fended off insinuations that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo failed to act on the P728 million fertilizer fund mess involving former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc" Bolante. In a phone interview with GMANews.TV, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said that when President Arroyo knew of the irregularities in the controversial Department of Agriculture farm inputs, farm implements (FIFI) project, she directed her anti-graft commission to investigate on the matter. "It’s not true that the President did not act on it. The truth of the matter is she had directed the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) to conduct an investigation. But the PAGC terminated its investigation when the Ombudsman started its own [probe]," Remonde said. The Senate blue ribbon committee earlier recommended the filing of plunder charges against nine people, including Bolante who allegedly engineered the diversion of P728 million in agriculture funds to the campaign kitty of President Arroyo in the 2004 national elections. But while the committee also cleared the President of involvement on the mess, Senate panel chair Richard Gordon said the President should explain why she did not act on the purported misuse of funds. Gordon said that although the inquiry on the matter yielded no evidence directly linking the President to the scam, she somehow encouraged it because of her inaction. "Since there was no reprobation or disapproval coming from President Arroyo regarding their actions, it can easily be inferred that the President acquiesced to such acts," Gordon said as he read a part of the executive summary of the committee report on the fertilizer fund scam. In a separate interview, Remonde said the Palace welcomes the committee report: "It’s good Bolante [and the others] will now have their day in court to prove their innocence in the event that a case against them is eventually filed in court." The committee report will then be submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman or to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for preliminary investigation. The Ombudsman conducts investigations on complaints involving public officials. Remonde likewise said that "we cannot preempt whatever ruling the Ombudsman will make since the ball is now in its hand." The Press secretary added that it will be too early to say whether President Arroyo "committed a sin of omission." "Suffice it to say that [President Arroyo] does not tolerate wrongdoings in her Cabinet and she’ll leave it all to Bolante to prove his innocence," he said. For her part, deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said that "the blue ribbon committee’s findings were based on inference not evidence. The President cannot be made responsible for something she has no involvement in and knowledge of." -Sophia Dedace, GMANews.TV