While senators are still arguing over the release of former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) must start looking into the charges filed against him by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee.
Enrile took the side of Sen. Richard Gordon, Blue Ribbon committee chairman, who said it was right to release Bolante after the complaints for disobedience to summonses and false testimonies had been filed against him.
The Senate chief said those questioning the decision of the majority could go the court and “they will lose.”
However, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano assailed the statements of Enrile and Gordon, saying Bolante should not have been released because the former agriculture official had not purged himself of contempt for lying and evasiveness during the Senate hearings on the fertilizer fund scam.
“There are more opposition senators (than administration), why would we go to the court? Unless our colleagues in the majority who are opposition have become pro-administration or good committees are more important to them. Isn’t voting still rule in the Senate? Why did the opposition in the majority not file a motion for reconsideration? Is it no longer important for them to know the truth about the fertilizer fund scam?” Cayetano, former Blue Ribbon committee chairman, argued.
But Gordon said it would now be up to the courts to decide on the fate of Bolante as the Senate did not have prosecutorial powers to determine his guilt.
Enrile said there was nothing in the rules allowing the Senate to detain a person as long as they wanted to.
“He answered the questions. We held him in contempt. Now, are we going to hold him forever? Only the court can sentence him to life imprisonment. So we have to end it somehow that’s why we filed charges versus Bolante,” Enrile said.
Enrile also said DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzalez’s pronouncement that he would act on the complaints against Bolante only after the Senate had stopped its investigation was wrong.
‘The DOJ can already act because Bolante already has a testimony that they can use as basis. Our inquiry in the Senate is in aid of legislation, it’s not to prosecute anybody,” Enrile said.
Bolante filed a petition for habeas corpus before the Supreme Court when he was ordered detained by the Senate for contempt as he supposedly lied, evaded questions and contradicted himself during the hearings.