No arrest warrant yet for Bolante, others in fertilizer fund scam

The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court on Tuesday did not issue a warrant of arrest against those implicated in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, including its supposed mastermind, former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc" Bolante. Defense lawyers, however, assured the Sandiganbayan Second Division during the day’s hearing that Bolante, along with co-accused former Agriculture assistant secretary Ibarra Poliquit, is still in the country. The fertilizer fund scam — referring to the alleged diversion of government funds intended for poor farmers to former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaign kitty in the 2004 elections — was one of the big controversies that rocked Arroyo’s nine-year rule. On Tuesday, prosecution lawyer Rohermia Jamsani Rodriguez asked the court to require the defense to present Bolante and Poliquit at the next hearing on August 17, saying the plunder case is non-bailable as it is a capital offense. The request, however, was turned down as the court upheld the defense’s position that the appearance of the two in court cannot be compelled yet in the absence of a warrant. “As a lawyer, I would personally assure that my clients are still in Metro Manila. In fact they regularly consult us about this case," said defense lawyer Antonio Zulueta. Also named defendants in the case were former Agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo and liquid fertilizer suppliers Jaime Paule, Marilyn Araos, Joselito Flordeliza, Marites Aytona, Jose Barredo and Leonicia Marco-Llarena. The court, during Tuesday’s hearing, tackled a motion by Bolante and Poliquit questioning the validity of the information and seeking suspension of proceedings as well as deferment of the issuance of an arrest warrant. Zulueta and another defense lawyer Jose Pocholo del Rosario claimed that not only the information was too vague, it is also unsupported by competent evidence. They said while the information stated that Bolante and Poliquit were “business associates, dummies, nominees, agents, subordinates" of their co-accused, there was no mention of any business transactions among them. “(W)hile it may be true that Lorenzo worked the [Department of Agriculture] at some point with Accused Bolante and Accused Poliquit, there is no showing that they had any private business dealings among themselves. Simply stated, their relationship among each other was purely on a professional level," they said. They also challenged the prosecution to prove that there was a conspiracy among all the accused to defraud the government, noting that the private defendants declared during a Senate inquiry on the issue that none of them knew Bolante in person. They said the prosecution was not even certain as to the sum of ill-gotten wealth supposedly amassed by the public officials although the amount of P265.64 million was mentioned. “The information failed to allege the actual amount of share Accused Bolante and Poliquit personally amassed, accumulated or acquired from the aggregate amount," the defense pointed out. Zulueta said the Sandiganbayan itself held in the case of People vs. Belicena that “there must necessarily and indispensably be proof that a public officer enriched himself to the tune of at least P50 million." The graft court gave the prosecution 10 days to submit its written comments on the defense motion. Zulueta asked and was granted the same number of days to file a reply to the government’s comment. — KBK, GMA News