Press Release
December 10, 2008

Senate blue ribbon panel orders arrest of Aytona, Paule

The Senate blue ribbon committee today ordered the immediate arrest of Maritess Aytona, the alleged "runner", of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, after she failed anew to explain her alleged participation in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam.

The Senate panel also ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to locate the whereabouts of Jimmy Paule, also an alleged "runner" of Bolante, so that the Senate sergeant-at-arms can serve the subpoena issued against him.

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon, committee chair, said the attendance of Aytona and Paule before the Senate probe is very crucial as both of them were implicated by Jose Barredo as the former "runners" of Bolante.

"Let the record show that there are respective warrants of arrest issued by the Lower House, as well as the Senate. It is obvious the Ms. Aytona is in flight. Although she submitted an affidavit, she has obviously tried to avoid being here," Gordon said.

He added that the Senate panel had already summoned Aytona to appear before the Senate since the start of its probe on the fertilizer fund scam. However, she failed to appear before the committee during the hearings on Nov. 13, 25, 28 and today (Dec. 10).

Gordon said he was able to speak to Aytona before the Nov. 28 hearing and said she would appear before the panel, but until now she has not come out and only submitted to the committee a sworn affidavit.

However, the blue ribbon chair noted that the subpoena against Aytona was returned to the Senate because the address she declared in her affidavit was not hers but to a friend.

"That's another point against her. If she really doesn't live there, but that's what she wrote in her affidavit, then that would be lying. If the committee finds out that she used that address to avoid us, that's a violation," Gordon said.

"We want Ms. Aytona here because if a person submits an affidavit, that's where we base our questions, and through that, we would find out if she's telling the truth," he added.

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