Respected political pundit Manolo Quezon (MLQ3) was right, when he said that pinning hopes on former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante, to be a factor in the resuscitation of the latest impeachment case filed against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), is a case of hoping too much.1
MLQ3: “Blogger Barangay Kidlatan is of the opinion that Bolante and impeachment are related, something others seem to think, too. Of course they are related, but whether the former will actually breathe life into the latter is what seems to me a bit of a stretch.”
Quezon also had reservations about what another esteemed political pundit Mon Casiple postulated in his own blog: “Now, throw Jocjoc Bolante into the brew and a possible insider impeachment witness has appeared on the horizon, in addition to all the others. The impeachment–a quixotic proposition before–suddenly now seems plausible”.
With the manner that Bolante had adroitly wriggled his way out of the confusing muddle that is the Senate hearing on the alleged PHP728-million fertilizer fund scam yesterday, those of us who hope that his testimony could revive the impeachment case, should now stop hoping.
At the outset, Bolante absolved GMA of any involvement in the alleged scam, saying that the release of the funds did not require the approval of Arroyo. He also rectified that the fund is not just an all-fertilizer fund, but also a farm input/farm implement fund, justifying its release during the harvest season (coinciding with the 2004 election season) and not during the growing season.
Joc-joc Bolante testifying at the Senate on the alleged fertilizer fund scam.
Screen grab from GMA’s 24 Oras newscast.
On his first chance to speak, Bolante apologized for any harm he had caused to the Senate by not attending the previous hearings. He said he did not intend to snub the Senate, but was only honoring prior commitments abroad. He added that he could have cited his right against self-incrimination, but he chose to talk to clear his name.
He was a picture of decorum throughout the Senate hearing, in contrast to a certain supposedly honorable senator, who asked questions in the manner that a hoodlum interrogates another in the movies, minus the physicals. And although the inimitable Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago made mincemeat out of him, he was still as cool as cucumber.
In other words, the Senate gleaned nothing out of the much-ballyhooed Joc-joc testimony, except a few hours of exposure on ANC for some of its attention deficit-afflicted members. But then, Manolo said that the Senate has to continue what it began, and that, “Everyone in the political class is waiting to see whether the public, once more, growls disapproval or shrugs the whole thing off”.
Considering the way that things turned-out yesterday, it is not difficult to understand why Filipinos, once again, just shrugged their shoulders off, the way they did with the previous editions of the circus acts known as the senate hearings in aid of whatever.
1(This is perhaps the reason why he is spearheading an intervention effort for the prosecution to include the BJE-MOA between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), as an impeachable offense.)
MLQ3: “Blogger Barangay Kidlatan is of the opinion that Bolante and impeachment are related, something others seem to think, too. Of course they are related, but whether the former will actually breathe life into the latter is what seems to me a bit of a stretch.”
Quezon also had reservations about what another esteemed political pundit Mon Casiple postulated in his own blog: “Now, throw Jocjoc Bolante into the brew and a possible insider impeachment witness has appeared on the horizon, in addition to all the others. The impeachment–a quixotic proposition before–suddenly now seems plausible”.
With the manner that Bolante had adroitly wriggled his way out of the confusing muddle that is the Senate hearing on the alleged PHP728-million fertilizer fund scam yesterday, those of us who hope that his testimony could revive the impeachment case, should now stop hoping.
At the outset, Bolante absolved GMA of any involvement in the alleged scam, saying that the release of the funds did not require the approval of Arroyo. He also rectified that the fund is not just an all-fertilizer fund, but also a farm input/farm implement fund, justifying its release during the harvest season (coinciding with the 2004 election season) and not during the growing season.
Joc-joc Bolante testifying at the Senate on the alleged fertilizer fund scam.
Screen grab from GMA’s 24 Oras newscast.
On his first chance to speak, Bolante apologized for any harm he had caused to the Senate by not attending the previous hearings. He said he did not intend to snub the Senate, but was only honoring prior commitments abroad. He added that he could have cited his right against self-incrimination, but he chose to talk to clear his name.
He was a picture of decorum throughout the Senate hearing, in contrast to a certain supposedly honorable senator, who asked questions in the manner that a hoodlum interrogates another in the movies, minus the physicals. And although the inimitable Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago made mincemeat out of him, he was still as cool as cucumber.
In other words, the Senate gleaned nothing out of the much-ballyhooed Joc-joc testimony, except a few hours of exposure on ANC for some of its attention deficit-afflicted members. But then, Manolo said that the Senate has to continue what it began, and that, “Everyone in the political class is waiting to see whether the public, once more, growls disapproval or shrugs the whole thing off”.
Considering the way that things turned-out yesterday, it is not difficult to understand why Filipinos, once again, just shrugged their shoulders off, the way they did with the previous editions of the circus acts known as the senate hearings in aid of whatever.
1(This is perhaps the reason why he is spearheading an intervention effort for the prosecution to include the BJE-MOA between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP), as an impeachable offense.)
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