Bolante says Arroyo was Never Involved in Fertilizer Find Mess
Former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante cleared that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was never involved in the multimillion fertilizer fund scam.
Appearing before the reopened Senate probe on the anomaly, Bolante also said it was the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) which approved the P728-million farm input and farm implement program in 2004.
“The project that you are referring to is the P728-million farm input and farm implement program was approved and processed by the DBM. It did not require the approval of President Arroyo. President Arroyo has never been involved and is not involved in this particular project of the Department of Agriculture,” Bolante said.
Bolante was responding to a question from Senator Manuel Roxas II, who wanted to know when President Arroyo approved the fertilizer fund.
Roxas, however, did not accept Bolante’s answer, saying President Arroyo is known to be a micro-manager. “That’s hard to believe, Mr. Bolante because we know the President as a micro-manager,” he said.
Roxas recalled an earlier hearing where former budget secretary Emilia Boncodin, when asked if the President knew about the fertilizer fund, had replied, “I would imagine so.”
The fertilizer fund scam refers to the P728-million worth of fertilizer fund intended for poor farmers but was allegedly diverted to President Arroyo’s campaign kitty in the 2004 elections.
According to Bolante, who denied irregularities in the fertilizer fund program, the P728-million fund was part of the unutilized savings from the 2003 budget. He said then Agriculture secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. made an official request to the DBM for the release of the funds for the said program.
“As far as I know, the P728-million farm input and implement program funding of the Department of Agriculture was not a scam,” Bolante said.
He also denied that the funds went to President Arroyo’s campaign kitty in the 2004.
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