Gordon stands firm on Bolante's detention in the Senate

Senator Richard J. Gordon today assured that former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante would be released from his detention in the Senate as soon as he purges himself from contempt or when formal charges are filed against him.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, made the assurance as he stressed that these two conditions were clearly defined in the contempt order he and his 12 other colleagues have overwhelmingly voted and approved.

"We stand firm on our position that Bolante can be freed from his Senate detention when he ceases from giving evasive and false testimonies or when an appropriate charge is filed against him," he said.

He pointed out that Bolante's contradicting statements and continuous evasiveness during the past hearings last Nov. 13, 25, and 28, on the fertilizer fund scam were enough bases to have him punished for contempt.

Gordon said that during the hearings, Bolante maintained that his only role in the Farm Inputs-Farm Implements program was to "download" the funds, and that it was a regular program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

This was soundly refuted by DA Regional Field Unit (RFU) directors who said that the program was never a regular project of the department.

The regional directors also said that letters of instruction and purchase orders regarding the program were signed by Bolante himself, thereby opposing his oft-repeated statement that he was not part of its implementation.

"While I hope to understand appeals to have Bolante release before Christmas on humanitarian grounds, I empathize for the children of Marlene Esperat, who are spending another Christmas without a mother," said Gordon.

Gordon has vowed to investigate Esperat's murder after he concludes the Senate blue ribbon committee's probe into the P732-million fertilizer fund scam.

Esperat was murdered for trying to expose a P432-million anomaly in the Department of Agriculture in which Bolante was allegedly involved.