MANILA, Philippines?It is the Senate Blue Ribbon committee that will reopen an inquiry into the P728-million fertilizer fund scam in 2004, according to its chair, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

?Definitely,? Cayetano said on Saturday in a phone interview when asked if it was his committee that would revive the investigation of the fund scam purportedly engineered by then Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn ?Joc-joc? Bolante.

The senator said he would consult with members of his committee, but only on ?the schedule of the public hearings and the scope of the investigation.?

He said that of its own accord, the blue ribbon committee could ?take up cases of anomalies, malfeasance, misfeasance in government.?

?The point of consultation with committee members is to give due courtesy and respect to the Senate?s committee system,? he said.

Cayetano also said that the agriculture committee chaired by Sen. Edgardo Angara, ?being the primary committee in the last Congress, should have first crack? at the newly deported Bolante.

?But the blue ribbon will have a new investigation now that the agriculture committee has said that as far as it?s concerned, it had completed its investigation,? he said.

Senate President Manuel Villar said Friday night that since Bolante was in the chamber?s custody even while undergoing tests at St. Luke?s Medical Center in Quezon City, a reopening of the inquiry was in order.

?We all know that the agriculture committee is clear in its position that it doesn?t want to [further] investigate [the fund scam]. So what I?m waiting for is the opinion of the blue ribbon,? Villar said in an ambush interview at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where he welcomed Filipino workers arriving from abroad.

Villar said Cayetano was in the process of consulting the members of his committee.

?If the blue ribbon will investigate this, the ball is in its court. If not, we can take over,? he said.

?Incomplete? report

Cayetano said Angara was right in saying that the agriculture committee had all the information it needed with respect to the fertilizer fund scam.

?But as far as the antigraft or good governance aspect is concerned, the report of the agriculture committee said it would not be complete without Bolante?s testimony,? Cayetano said, adding:

?From the start, I have said that I want to have a new investigation to get to the bottom of this scam, to prevent it from happening again, and to show people that crime does not pay.

?It is basically simply completing what has been started by the committee on agriculture.?

In the run-up to the May 2004 presidential election, P728 million in fertilizer funds intended for farmers was distributed to backers of President Macapagal-Arroyo for her election campaign.

The agriculture committee chaired by then Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. opened an inquiry into the fund scam in 2005, but Bolante repeatedly snubbed its summonses.

The Senate issued a warrant for his arrest, and he fled to the United States.

But US immigration officials took Bolante in custody upon arrival in Los Angeles because of an invalid nonimmigrant visa.

Bolante applied for asylum, but his application was repeatedly rejected by US courts.

After fighting deportation in a US county jail for two years, he arrived in Manila on Oct. 28 and was arrested by the Senate sergeant at arms. Then, complaining of chest pain, he was whisked off to St. Luke?s.

On Oct. 30, his attending physician pronounced him stable and ?walking around his room? but requiring further tests.

A bulletin on the results of all the tests is expected tomorrow.

Publication of rules

Cayetano also said the publication of the Senate?s ?Rules of Procedure Governing Inquiries in Aid of Legislation? in the newspaper Malaya on Friday would put to rest all doubts as to the authority of all Senate committees to look into the ?abuses committed by accountable officials? in the executive branch.

?No amendments have been made in the rules since their adoption. The rules continue to govern inquiries in aid of legislation,? he said.

The rules may be accessed at the Senate website www.senate.gov.ph.

Bolante was earlier described by Cayetano as ?the missing piece of the puzzle? of the 2004 presidential election.

?I?m sure that if Undersecretary Bolante was involved, he did not do it alone. And so far, those people who did it have not been held accountable,? Cayetano had said.

?So where are these people now? Are they still in the Department of Agriculture? Whatever they are doing now, we don?t know. These are the things that will come to light if he testifies.?

Neri?s case

The Senate had to republish its rules governing inquiries following the Supreme Court ruling on March 25 favoring former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri?s invocation of executive privilege.

In that ruling, the high court upheld Neri?s refusal to answer the Senate?s three questions concerning the President?s instructions to him in connection with the scrapped National Broadband Network deal with ZTE Corp. of China.

The high court maintained that presidential communications were presumptively privileged, and that the Senate committees looking into the NBN-ZTE deal had failed to present sufficient proof to debunk this presumption.

The tribunal also reminded the Senate of the need to publish the rules of procedure enshrined in Section 21, Article 6 of the Constitution.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita has maintained that without the published rules, the Senate could not compel members of the Cabinet and other executive officials to face its inquiries in aid of legislation, and all its previous hearings might be regarded ?null and void.?

Villar?s wife

Las Pinas Rep. Cynthia Villar, Senate President Villar?s wife, said on Saturday that Bolante should speak up to clear her once and for all.

She lamented that with Bolante?s deportation, her name was being dragged into the fund mess again.

She said that when the issue first cropped up in 2005, she and Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin denied receiving money from Bolante and asked the latter to remove their names from the list of purported recipients of the fund.

She said Bolante had promised to delist her and Locsin but did not deliver on his promise.

?Of course, all of us want him (Bolante) to just speak up to finish this, to clear up things,? Cynthia Villar said on the phone.

?It?s so unfair to us. We don?t need fertilizer. Makati, for example, has a lot of money. We don?t need funds from the national government, except for infrastructure,? she said.

The congresswoman said she would support an inquiry into the fund mess if one is initiated at the House of Representatives.

Asked if she had urged her husband to fast-track the Senate investigation, she said: ?Alam naman niya yun (He knows what to do).?

Villar reiterated on Friday that he would call a caucus of senators as soon as they arrive from abroad ?to get their sentiments? on the inquiry.

He said it was difficult to call such a caucus during the All Saints? Day break.

The Senate is on a monthlong recess. Sessions are to resume on Nov. 10.

Just beginning

On Friday, Ermita said Malacañang?s position was that the Senate inquiry into the fertilizer fund scam had been completed.

But in the opinion of University of the Philippines law professor Harry Roque, ?it?s only about to begin.?

?In the Senate?s final report, they said it could not be a final report without the testimony of Joc-joc. The US courts refused to grant him asylum because of the Senate?s standing arrest warrant. So how can the issue be over?? Roque said on the phone.

?The issue Mr. Bolante is facing is about misappropriation of public funds. It?s about the violation of election laws. It?s about accountability,? he said. With reports from Leila B. Salaverria, Alcuin Papa and Julie M. Aurelio