Gordon turns down Bolante's request to release him from Senate security

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon has turned down the request of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante to release him from being guarded by security officers from the Senate.

The chairman of the blue ribbon committee said he cannot allow Bolante to be released from the protective custody of the Senate because it is their duty to protect him since he is under investigation by the Upper Chamber.

"We cannot just release him from the Senate's custody. The committee still has to decide on that. And besides, what if something bad happens to him?" Gordon said.

He clarified that Bolante is not under arrest but merely under the protective custody of the Senate.

Gordon said it puzzles him why, all of a sudden, the former undersecretary wants the security officials detailed to guard him be removed when, in the first place, it was Bolante himself who wanted to have security because, allegedly, there is a threat to his life.

"That is another inconsistency. Earlier he was saying someone's out there to kill him, but now he doesn't want security anymore," he said.

Gordon said the inconsistencies in Bolante's statements and his continuous evasiveness could prompt the blue ribbon committee to implement the motion to cite him in contempt.

He said Bolante has been insisting that he did not take part in the implementation of the Farm Input -- Farm Implements (FIFI) program, and was merely "downloading" the P728-million fund to the regional directors.

However, during the third hearing of the Senate blue ribbon committee on the fertilizer fund scam, Bolante admitted that his office prepared the list of proponents of the project which was submitted to the Department of Budget and Management and became attached to the Special Allotment Release Order.

Moreover, the regional directors of the Department of Agriculture testified that they received respective memoranda signed by Bolante, which clearly stated the project proponents to whom the allotments were transferred.

"It has been proven that Bolante was in-charge of this fertilizer fund program. Insofar as Bolante is concerned, I have no doubt in my mind that he has done all these foolish things," Gordon said.

The motion to cite Bolante in contempt already gained 12 signatures out of the 17 members of the committee, but Gordon said he would convene the panel's members and deliberate whether they will still have to implement the motion and have him confined in the Senate premises.