President Arroyo must be held responsible
over fertilizer fund scam, Gordon maintains

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today maintained that President Arroyo must be held responsible for the acts of her former officials in the Department of Agriculture (DA) who were implicated in the P728-million fertilizer project.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, said the President is deemed responsible by virtue of the "doctrine of qualified political agency", which provides that all executive and administrative organizations are adjuncts of the executive department.

He however noted that instead of subjecting to investigation Jocelyn Bolante, Ibarra Poliquit and Belinda Gonzales, former DA officials implicated in the fertilizer fund scam, they were even given higher positions.

"The Executive (branch) here committed twice the sin of omission," Gordon said.

"The omission was so appalling that the people involved were allowed to get away with it," he added.

During the 13th Congress, the Senate has also found that the President herself "must be held accountable in the mismanagement of the fertilizer fund and take it upon herself to institute measures to correct the flaws in her administration."

Gordon explained that it is the task of the Executive to supervise its agents and subordinates well, rewarding those who do good work and punishing those who do badly.

He said that in the case of the fertilizer fund scam, there was no close monitoring of how the money was spent and whether the funds were spent wisely and well. There was no investigation, no condemnation, or at the very least, a slap on the wrist, despite the exposure on the said issue that first appeared in the media.

"The AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) was slow, the Bureau of Internal Revenue was absent, the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) allowed it, the President and the DA Secretary did not move," Gordon said.

"This lack of supervision, this negligence in monitoring, this lack of accountability, this omission was so gross; it was tantamount to bad faith, even criminal neglect," he added.

Gordon said what is more appalling is that despite being implicated in the multi-million fertilizer fund mess, Bolante, Poliquit and Gonzales even landed on higher positions after the supposed implementation of the project.

Bolante was appointed to the board of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Poliquit as GSIS vice president, and Gonzales as DA undersecretary.