SENATE
HAS NO POWER TO CONVICT – JOC-JOC
ROXAS City – The Senate has no authority
to prosecute or judge anyone, stressed Agriculture Undersecretary
Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante in reaction to the Senate
Blue Ribbon Committee report holding him liable for the alleged
P728-million fertilizer fund scam.
He said there is no evidence whatsoever that
can link him to the purported diversion of farmers’
funds to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s supporters
during the presidential election in May 2004.
Citing a Supreme Court decision (Neri vs.
Senate Committee, GR No. 180643, September 4, 2008), Bolante
said the Senate “cannot assume the power reposed upon
our prosecutorial bodies and courts.”
The Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Sen.
Richard Gordon wants Bolante charged with plunder after conducting
several public hearings.
But Bolante said the Senate’s power
to investigate is only in aid of legislation.
The Supreme Court, he said, made it clear
that “the determination of who should be hailed to court
for prosecution, and the task of coming up with conclusions
regarding anomalies, especially the determination of criminal
guilt, are not functions of the Senate.”
“Congress is neither a law enforcement
nor a trial agency,” stressed Bolante.
He also noted that even the Ombudsman which
has investigated him has until now no evidence, and thus has
not come up with anything against him.
Because there is nothing to tie him up to
the alleged scam, he said, an earlier related case was in
fact junked by the court – this was the Anti-Money Laundering
Council’s (AMLC) application to the Regional Trial Court
in Makati City to issue a bank inquiry order to investigate
Bolante for money laundering.
AMLC would have wanted to check Bolante’s
bank accounts and investments. But according to Judge Winlove
Dumayas, “there exists no probable cause for the issuance
of a bank inquiry order.”
Bolante said the Senate merely rehashed the
issue, calling it “superfluous, devoid of legal significance,
and a clear grandstanding with obvious political motive.”
“The Committee has nothing new against
me. It has no evidence whatsoever to support the irresponsible
accusation of technical malversation, much less plunder against
me,” he stressed./PN
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