Press Release
November 13, 2008

Transcript of Sen. Escudero's questioning of former DA Undersecretary Joc Joc Bolante:

Sen. Chiz: Mr. Bolante ano ang backgroaund nyo sa agriculture kung meron man bago kayo inappoint sa DA, meron po ba o wala?

Bolante: Meron naman po, tumutulong po ako. (Sa bikud po nila sa Capiz?) Yes, po.

Sen. Chiz: At maliban don wala na kayong karanasan sa agrikultura, sa gobyerno man o sa pribadong sektor?

Bolante: Wala po.

Chiz: At inappoint na lang kayo ng PMS as Usec sa agriculture bagaman wala kayong karanasan sa agrikultura at walang nagback-up sa inyo.

Bolante: Yes po ang appointment ko po particularly for finance.

Sen. Chiz: Kanina nyo pang sinasabi sa mga kasamahan ko na matagal ng programa ng Dept. of Agriculture yung fertilizer assistant or farm inputs, tama po ba?

Bolante: Hindi po program your honor, as I said activity, supporting the various programs of the DA, yung farm implements funding is part of all the various programs of the DA.

Sen. Chiz: So hindi po yan bahagi ng GMA tipid abono bawas gastos saganang ani program?

Bolante: Kasam din po siya dyan sir, dyan po.

Sen. Chiz: sabi po ng CoA G. Bolante 1,250 percent overpriced yung fertilizer, bahagi po ba ito ng tipid abono bawas gastos saganang ani program?

Bolante: i'm sure your honor the project implementors should be able to explain that, we have nothing to do with the procurement.

Sen. Chiz: sabi nyo rin po chargeable sa 2003 budget yung pondo, tama po ba?

Bolante: Don po nanggaling yung savings po ng 2003.

Sen. Chiz: Ang sabi po ng SARO ng P728-million ito ay chargeable sa AFMA under Republic Act 9206.

Bolante: Opo.

Sen. Chiz: sa AFMA may nakalagay ba doon na farm implement, farm input program kung saan authorizing you na magbigay ng pera sa LGU o sa congressman o sa distrito ng congressman para sa programa, are your authorized?

Bolante: yes po, because we have not, we did not give the money for the congressmen, we've been giving it to the projects, so gusto ko lang po liwanagin yung congressman po o yung gobernador hindi tumanggap ni, not even a single centavo from us, we did not release a signle centavo to the congressmen.

Sen.Chiz: You released it to...

Bolante: we released it to the LGU, to the chosen implementing party of the projects of the congressmen and governors, for example let say in the province of Pampanga we did not release it to the governor, we released it ot the provincial government of Pampanga.

Sen. Chiz: for the record ang nakalagay sa AFMA or theAgriculture Fisheries Modernization program under Republic Act 9206 na sinasabi ni Usec Bolante na pinagkunan ng pondo, wala pong nakalagay dito an farm inputs, farm implement program, wala ring nakalagay dito na fertilizer maliban sa section 23 na sinabing bahagi ito ng agro-inductry modernization, credit anf financing program at sa section 111 ng AFMA na nakalagay na pede lamang i-implement ang programa kapag ka ibibigay na ng Dept. of Agriculture ang pondo sa rural-based public and private financial institutions, rural bank or cooperative bank at dating DA secretary po Usec ang tatay ko wala hong matagal nang programa ang DA na nagbibigay ng fertilizer direkta kung saka-sakali pambili sa munisipyo dahil pinapadaan po nila yun sa kooperatiba kung saka sakali noon sang-ayon sa agriculture and fisheries modernization act, yung sinasabi po nyong regular item, regular na nasa budget, matuturo nyo ba sa akin sa 2003 budget kung nasaan ang nakalagay na yon?

Bolante: sa palagay ko pagnakita ko po yung records, pagnakuha ko yung records sa Department of Agriculture ay maituturo ko sa inyo.

Sen. Chiz: Binasa ko po ang 2003 budget at AFMA wala pong nakalgay doon pero during the break I will give you, during the recess, I will give you a copy of the budget so that after the break you can perhaps point it out to us.

My next questino undersecretary is saabi nyo matagal ng programa ito ng DA pero nong tumestigo si dating Secretary Panganiban ng DA noong December 6, 2005, ang sabi po niya sa senado noon wala pa po ako sa senado noon, sabi po niya wala akong alam na ganyang programa, hindi ko nalalaman ang programang yan at wala sa departamento ko na nakakaalam sa programang yan. Si Secretary Panganiban nanilbihan po yan bilang undersecretary, assistant secretary, assistant minister, deputy minister hanggang panahon ni Pangulong Marcos, pero hanganga ngayon ho sinasabi nyo sa amin matagal ng programa ng DA yan, pero yung secretary na sumunod kay secretary Lorenzo na dating nanilbihan sa DA sabi nya wala siyang alam na ganyang programa eh, how would you reconcile your statement with this.

Bolante: Actually your honor it's a matter of semantics in the sense that you're calling it a program indeed tama naman po si secretary Panganiban hindi naman po programa yung farm input, farm implement, as I said farm input farm implement, farm funding, is always a component of banner programs, apat lang po yung banner programs, and then Secretary Sscudero could attest to this: Rice and corn, high value crops, fisheries and livestocks. And funding po ng farm inputs at farm implements palagi pong kasama yon sa banner programs ng DA. So tama po siya walang programang farm input farm implement.

Sen. Chiz: Mr. Undersecretary in a letter dated feb. 3, 2004, which you sent to all the recipients of the fertilizer fund, you referred to it as farm input/farm impelemt program covered by SARO number so on and so forth char against the agricultural fisheries modernization act, you're the one dealing with semantics, Mr. Undersecretary because now you refer to it as funding na nasabi na ay hindi naman pala programa. But in your letter dated February 3 to all of the recipients of the fund you referred to it also as a program.

Bolante: that's why I emtnioned it your honor with due respect that's why I used the word semantic because we interchangeably used the terms program and funding.

Sen. Chiz: At sa tingin nyo hindi po alam ni secretary Panganiban and program at funding at nang tinanong siya kung may ganyan bang programa ang sabi niya wala pero nasa isip niya alam niya na may funding, yon po ba ang sinasabi nyo.

Bolante: I think he was pertaining to the banner programs so as far as he knows apat lang po ang banner programs ng DA so tama naman po siya na hindi programa.

Sen. Chiz: Hindi rin po funding? Mr. Undersecrearty sabi nyo po kanina base po sa pinamigay nyong funding sa mga request na nasa inyo and the demand exceeded the availability of funds, tama po ba yon? Did all the districts, all the municipalities and all the provinces request for the funding?

Bolante: I dont think all, not all. But many, many.

Chiz: Now may I ask what criteria did you use in choosing the 105 districts that you gave this fund to as opposed to the more or less 230 districts nationwide?

Bolante: in the first place, we have to match the request, the pending request with the purpose of the fund because we cannot divert the use of the fund, the use of the fund was very specific, for farm input and farm implement, so we have to match the pending request that we have in our database with the purpose of the fund and then we have to consider those request that have been there for quite sometime

and we tried always to cover as many congressmen's districts, as many provincial governments and some municipalities so that we tried to cover as many as far sa the funds could bring us.

Sen. Chiz: sabi po nyo kanina records noogn 2002 namigay kayo sa lahat ng munisipyo, all, sabi nyo rin po noong 2003 or 2001 namigay kayo sa lahat ng distrito, bakit ho sa 2004 namili na kayo bigla ng bibigyan, 105 out of 230 districts, 53 provinces out of 80, 81 provinces, and 23 municipalities out of 1,400 plus municipalities, yung pagpili nyo ba kayo na lang ang nagdesisyon non?

Bolante: my office po, we have the staff to do.

Sen. Chiz: Whom? Sino po yung nasa opisina nyo?

Bolante: we have assistant secretary poliquit, we have our staff, I cannot remember their names because ive been away from...

Sen. Chiz: At kayo lamang po ang may kapangyarihan mag-aaprove hindi po ba? Yu have the power to approve their recommendation because I have the documents here corresponding to the request of asec. Poliquit, including the request coming from some of your asecs but you have the authority to approve by the authority of the secretary.

Bolante: I was tasked and authorized by the secretary so I was the one and it was my responsibility, it could have been a dereliction of duty had I have not done the job.

Sen. Chiz: So kayo na mismo ang namili nga and at the end of the day it was you who approved which congressional districts will received this funding, which provinces will receive this funding, which municipalities will receive this funding.

Bolante; based on the database yes, we have the data stored.

Chiz: pero sigurado po ako na lahat naman ng nangangailangan kayo nga po ang nagsabi na kulang eh so kayo na po ang namili, ito na lang imbes na ito, ito na lang imbes na yan.

Bolante: Kulang po ang pondo.

Sen. Chiz: Kaya nga po kayo na lang po ang namili. At kumuha nga po kayo ng exemptions di ba sa Comelec para sa pagdisburse sa ponding ito dahil election na po noon?

Bolante: Hidniu ko po matandaan. My office was not involved in that because as I said the implementation side was not part of the function of my office.

Sen. Chiz: undersecretary Bolante you were the usec for finance alam nyo pong electino yan at alam nyong may election ban. Hindi kayo magdadownload ng pera dahil alam nyong may election ban maliban na lang kung may exemptio, so kumuha ho ng Comelec exemption kinakailangan po na ang requestign agency ang kumuha non, kukuha ng Comelec exemption para madownload yung pondo dahil bawal marelease ng pondo at mag-impelement ng project sa panahon ng electino and there is a Comelec exemption.

Bolante: Your honor, thank you, first of all the CoA has come out with a written opinion that it was not covered, the budget was not covered.

Sen. Chiz: My exemption nga po sa election.

Bolante: second the downloading po was not from my office to the project proponents, the downloading of the fund before the election was from my office to the regional offices. So in other words the fund movement was in the DA, there was this disbursement from my office in favor of the project proponents.

Sen. Chiz: ang sabi nyo lang kanina ang nag-implement LGU, hindi po ba? Nadownload nyo sa probinsiya, sa LGU. So hindi nyo pwepwedeng sabihin nyo yung pondo nasa DA lang, nilipat nyo po yun sa LGU at nilipoat nyo yung pondo sa probinsya.

Bolante: Nong nagkaroon na po ng MOA, which is a prerequisite, nang magkaroon na ng MOA between .... and the implementing and the project proponents saka po nagkaroon ng partial release. But before that the funding was in the DA and as a matter of fact I think I mentioned it earlier that a substantial portion of the funds have not been release until after May because the release of the fund was progressive, so the fund...

Sen. Chiz: so ngayon magpunta tayo don sa sinasabi nyo kania, mayroong CoA report na nagsasabi 1,250 percent overpriced, liquid fertilizer na pang ornamental plants tulad ng orchids at hindi para sa palay,hindi para sa corn, ni hindi bagay sa mga high valued crops, sabi rin ng CoA dilluted daw, sabi ng CoA misdeleivred. These are facts found in the CoA report, sabi nyo kanina nadownload nyo lang yung pondo, kung may anomalya sa baba ang may problema, sino po ang tinutukoy nyo.

Bolante: let me clarify that your honor, im sure the project implementors have explained their side on how they impelemnted the project, im pretty sure of that, as far as I know, now if there is a question on specific projects im sure the project implementors will be able to explain that but as far as the DA is concerned and the regional (inaudible) of the area concerned we have done our job, using the procurement your honor by the local government unit is not controlled by the DA. As you know the LGUs have their own auditors, they have their own procurement officers.

Sen. Chiz; ang sabi nyo nga po G. Bolante kung may anomalya man sa pagprocure yung impelemnting agency na LGU, meaning probinsya o munisipyo ang may kasalanan at hindi ang Dan dahil ang sinasabi nyo sa amin wala kayong kinalaman don sa pagbili, is that what you're saying?

Bolante: what im saying your honor is that give the project implementor the chance to explain their side.

Sen. Chiz; Mr. Undersecretary the CoA has given them four years already to explain but they haven't able to explain so what im trying to say is wala kayong kinalaman sa pag-implement kaya kung may anomalya yan hindi kayo pedeng masisi. Kung may sisisihin man, ang sinasabi nyo yung LGU na nag-implement , be the province or the municipality, would that be correct?

Bolante: Thank you your honor

Sen. Chiz: Pagpapaganda po ba ng memorya yang ininom nyo?

Bolante: pede po bang macheck ng medical officer ng senado po?

Sen. Chiz: masyado po kayong seryoso G. Bolante, dalawang bagay na lang po, yung listahan na sinabmit ng CoA na may barcode ng DBM, lahat po ba sila nakatanggap ng pondo?

Bolante: Out of 181 I guess if im not mistaken, 22 po or 12% choose not to avail of the fund, about 12% or 22 out of 180 0r 181 project proponents.

Chiz: specific po yung sinabi nyo 22, can you identify the 22 who did not receive, meaning to say all the rest received.

Bolante: I dont have the list with me.

Sen. Chiz: May I request the chairman and the committee mr. Chairman to furnish mr. Bolante with the list and for him to identify and affix his signature on those whom he may identify who allegedly not having received. Would that be possible?

Bolante: because i have to refer to the records whether they availed or not, so I have to check whether.

Sen. Chiz: Isa na lamang po Mr. Chairman, G. Bolante nagpapasalamat ako na dumalo kayo sa ating haering at ilalagay ko sa record Mr. Chairman na napakabait at napakaamo ni G. Bolante na nag-aappear sa atin ngayon umaga at ngayong hapong ito. Subalit hindi kayang suklian ng anumang amo o bait na pinapakita nyo ngayong yung nawalang serbisyo at pondo na dapat napunta sa mga magsasaka na pinakamahihirap sa ating bansa. Kung ang sinasabi nyo kanina ginamit man o hindi wala na kaming pakialamn don problema na yon ng implementing agency yon, sa totoo lang poa ng kinikita ng magsasaka ngayon ay naglalaro ng P3,000 to P5,000 kada buwan kung masuwerte ang masakit dito kayat siniseryoso ito ng senado at kayat para mapaintindihan din namin sa inyo kung abkit namin ito ginagawa ito, mas kaya siguro naming tanggapin kung nag-ala Robinhood na lang ang may pakana nitong fertilizer fund scam, san nagnakaw na lang sila sa mayaam at binigay sa mahirap, ang problema sa ksong ito ninakaw sa mahirap at binigay sa mayayamang tumatakbo. Mahirap po tanggapin at mahirap sikmurahin nyo rason kung bakit kami nagdidinig ngayon at rason kung bakit binabatuhan namin kayo ng ialng katanungan.

Tatapusin ko na po ang pagtatanong ko Mr. Chairman.... maraming salamat po, G. Bolante.

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