By Fel V. Maragay

The suspicion that Malaca?ang was involved in the P728-million fertilizer fund scam remains a suspicion as Senate investigators found no proof directly linking the Palace to the anomaly.

With the Blue Ribbon committee about to release its report on the fund scandal, Senator Richard Gordon conceded yesterday that none of the several witnesses in the inquiry implicated President Arroyo, giving them no basis to include her among the personalities to be indicted for the scandal.

But Gordon criticized the President for allegedly failing to go after the suspected perpetrators. He said former Agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, tagged as the ?architect? of the alleged fund diversion, was even appointed by the President as a member of the board of trustees of the Government Service Insurance System after quitting from the Agriculture Department.

?What happened was that there was neglect on their part,? he told newsmen.

Gordon said the report will contain strong statements against the administration due to acts of omission which are ?very glaring,?

Senator Mar Roxas said Mrs. Arroyo could not distance herself from the controversy, pointing out that she authorized the release of the huge lump sum fund which was widely believed to be intended to aid her presidential campaign in the 2004 elections.

?Up to the time we wound up the hearings, nobody testified that the President had a hand in the irregularities. But I do not believe that with this huge amount of money, the President did not know how it had been misused during the election period,? Roxas told an ambush interview at the World Trade Center.

Gordon said the committee report on the fertilizer fund mess was finalized after being revised five times. The report is now being circulated among the l7 members of the Blue Ribbon committee for their signatures for its official release Monday. Originally, Gordon had planned to release the report last Monday but later reset it to Thursday.

The fund scam was first investigated by the committee on agriculture and Blue Ribbon committee in the 13th Congress. The report issued by the joint panel in December 2005 recommended the filing of graft charges against Bolante and his suspected accomplices.

But the Office of the Ombudsman, to which the Senate submitted its report, has not decided to elevate case to the Sandiganbayan up to now.