MANILA, Philippines—Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago describes Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante as a “robo-witness.”

On Sunday, she said the Senate inquisitors could tear him apart or throw him in boiling water, but the former agriculture undersecretary would never reveal what he knew about the P728-million fertilizer scam.

Santiago said Bolante, described as the brains behind the alleged diversion of the fertilizer fund to the 2004 campaign of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was “testifying as a robot,” and even a “rock” because of his “stonewalling” before the Senate blue ribbon committee.

The Senate has so far conducted three hearings on the scam since Bolante returned to the country in October after eluding the chamber and even deciding to remain under US detention for two years while appealing for asylum rather than show up in its inquiry.

“Even if you resort to torture, he won’t admit who is the brains behind it. It is a scam. So send him to jail,” Santiago said over dzBB radio.

Omerta

At one point, she said that Bolante was bound by “omerta,” the Mafia’s code of silence.

As a trial judge for five years, Santiago said she could see no way that the senators could make Bolante talk.

Having only attended the first hearing of the committee, the senator, who had been down with intestinal flu for two weeks now, said she did not take Bolante seriously then because his story “did not make a dent under the law or even common sense.”

Santiago dismissed Bolante’s assertion that he alone had control over the fund that was supposedly under a “farm inputs/farm implements” project for the benefit of farmers.

She said it was impossible that Bolante would not consult with agriculture officials or even Malacañang officials like the budget secretary because the disbursements involved a large amount of money.

That’s why the senator believed that Bolante was “lying under oath to protect himself and others.”

He’ll never tell the truth

She admitted she did not understand what the Senate meant when it said Bolante was “under its protective custody” because there was no such thing in the Senate rules.

“Our problem is that he’ll never tell the truth,” Santiago said.

And if Bolante doesn’t want to tell the truth, his detention by the Senate could mean “life imprisonment” because, she said, the Senate is a “continuing body.”

She said it was better for the Ombudsman to investigate Bolante and then file cases such as plunder or even malversation of funds and violating the anti-money laundering law in the Sandiganbayan.

House to get Bolante?

But Rep. Antonio del Rosario of Capiz Sunday said the House inquiry was out to nail down Bolante.

“The result of the investigation will soon prove that there were irregularities in the disbursement of the P728 million fertilizer funds,” Del Rosario told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

He said he was Roxas City mayor at the time of the scam and had been offered 30 percent of the supposed fertilizer money for his campaign. With a report from Felipe V. Celino, Inquirer Visayas