One report, prepared by the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO), a copy of which was obtained by abs-cbnNews.com/Newbreak, recommended the filing of criminal charges against Bolante for violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and violation of Article 220 of the Revised Penal Code.

Section 3 of RA 3019 enumerates the punishable corrupt practices of public officials. Subsection (e) refers to undue injury to any party, including the government, caused by "giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence."

Article 220 of the RPC refers to the illegal use of public funds or property.

Bolante, who has been tagged as the main architect of the fertilizer scam, fled to the US at the height of a Senate investigation but was arrested in Los Angeles in July 2007 for possession of a revoked visa. He is currently in the Kenosha County Jail after his two appeals to post bail and asylum have been denied.

Illegal use of public funds

The Ombudsman FIO report found that Bolante realigned the cash allocation intended for the original beneficiaries to new proponents, thus denying benefits to the former. "Concerned DA (Department of Agriculture) officials gave unwarranted benefits to the beneficiaries of the public officials who should not have received fertilizer funds. This is clear violation of Section 3(e) of RA 3019," the report said.

The realignment of funds, the report said, also constitutes "the felony of illegal use of public funds since the fund intended for a proponent’s district, province or town was given to other district, province or town."

A source from the Ombudsman said the FIO report was forwarded to the Office of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez as early as 2006. Gutierrez has been under criticism for not acting on the report.

Bolante is a close friend First Gentleman Juan Miguel Arroyo and his appointment to the DA was among the first official acts of President Arroyo when she took power from Estrada. Mr. Arroyo and Gutierrez were law classmates at the Ateneo.

Like Senate report

The FIO report mirrored a report by the Senate committee on agriculture chaired by then Senator Ramon Magsaysay. The Senate committee report described as anomalous the distribution program of the fertilizer fund. Many of the supposed beneficiaries of the program complained that they had not received any money from the program despite being mentioned as recipients in the list prepared y the DA.

The Senate report recommended the prosecution of Bolante and other agriculture officials, such as former Agriculture Secretary Cito Lorenzo, Undersecretary Belinda Gonzales, Assistant Secretaries Jose Felix Montes and Edmund Sana, and then-assistant secretary and current presidential adviser Ibarra Poliquit for plunder or violation of the anti-graft and corrupt practices act.

The FIO report however spared Lorenzo from the scam, noting that it was Bolante who was on top of the fertilizer fund.

Asylum rejected

The Ombudsman’s inaction on the fertilizer scam however, is proving to be unfavorable for Bolante in his asylum bid in the US.

In rejecting his claim for asylum, the Chicago immigration court and the Board of Immigration Appeals noted the lack of pending case against Bolante as proof that he is not being persecuted for his political opinion.

"The evidence revealed that there were presently no charges pending against the respondent with regard to the fertilizer scam and only an arrest warrant for his failure to appear and testify before the Senate committee," the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals read.

The Board of Appeals sustained the Chicago immigration judge’s decision that Bolante’s "prosecution (by the Senate) was clearly not a pretext for persecution" noting that the arrest warrant against him was only imposed after he snubbed numerous subpoenas.

"We agree that the respondent failed to established that he suffered past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of his imputed political opinion," the decision, dated June 25, 2007, said. (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

RELATED STORIES:
• A Scam that Won't Go Away
• 'Don't Grant Asylum to Joc-Joc'
• No to Joc-Joc, Part 2

---

INTERACT WITH THIS ARTICLE