31 hours on ZTE? Too much, says Joker

Sen. Joker Arroyo lamented yesterday that his colleagues were spending too much time investigating the national broadband network (NBN) controversy to the detriment of other matters that need legislative attention.

“Where are we going?” Arroyo asked, noting that the Senate had spent a total of 31 hours hearing the NBN issue compared to the 100 minutes the lawmakers spent on subsequent sessions.

“The questions have become repetitive. The questions that have been asked already are asked again and again. Why don’t we have time for our other work?” Arroyo asked.

The first hearing on the NBN issue on Sept.18 lasted almost six hours with businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, son and namesake of the House Speaker, as main resource person.

At the hearing, Joey said First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo barked at him to “back off” from the deal to give way to ZTE Corp., the Chinese firm allegedly endorsed by Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos. Joey is co-founder and majority stockholder of Amsterdam Holdings Inc., ZTE’s rival. Sen. Arroyo said the Senate session after the hearing lasted only one and a half hours.

On Sept. 20, Sen. Arroyo said the Senate had to forego session because the hearing on NBN lasted seven hours.

Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, and Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. attended the Sept.20 hearing.

Last Wednesday, the hearing dragged on for 12 hours or until 9:30 p.m. after which the senators convened for an executive session for 10 minutes. It was at that hearing that former National Economic Development Authority director general Romulo Neri confirmed Abalos’ P200 million bribe offer in exchange for an endorsement of the NBN deal.

Abalos, who was also at the hearing, denied Neri’s allegations.

The next day, senators spent six hours listening to former DOTC secretary Josefina Lichauco and UP professors Emmanuel de Dios and Raul Fabella debunk the viability of the NBN.

Sen. Arroyo would not say whether it was the live media coverage and the wide publicity that inspired the senators to sit down for hours during the hearings and wait patiently, or impatiently, for their turn to ask questions.

“I don’t want to make any descriptions. But we cannot really tell them not to ask any questions after sitting there for hours. That is why the chairmen of the committees decided that they be the last to do the questioning and give way to the others,” Sen. Manuel Roxas II, chairman of the Senate trade and commerce committee, said. Roxas’ committee is one of the three committees hearing the NBN controversy. The two others are the blue ribbon and defense committees chaired by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano and Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, respectively.

Sen. Arroyo said he could not understand why his colleagues wouldn’t cut short the investigation and start deliberations on pending bills.

“It takes only two senators to have a quorum in a committee hearing. How come it is hard to get that quorum when almost everybody is there in the investigations like the ZTE deal? Our primary duty is to make laws,” Sen. Arroyo told The STAR in a telephone interview.

He said the senators were expected to attend hearings on the budgets of the different government agencies, the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement and other priority bills.

“I think we have so much time for the investigations and very little for legislative work,” he said.

Aside from the NBN deal, the Senate is also busy discussing the “Hello, Garci” cheating and wiretapping controversy, on which three hearings had already been conducted. The hearings lasted for four to six hours each.

Sen. Arroyo said they themselves were breaking their new rule that sessions must start promptly at 3 p.m. so they could tackle more issues.

“That rule is only a few days old,” Arroyo said. The new rule was adopted after Roxas and Senate President Manuel Villar argued about punctuality and why sessions could not start on time at 3 p.m.

The Senate is set to adjourn on Oct. 13 and will be back on Nov. 4. “We have less than two weeks to go to work on bills, especially the budget which is a very important piece of legislation,” Sen. Arroyo said.

“During these investigations, we are not given any indication as to when they will end. It’s free wheeling and it’s as if we have all the time just for these,” He said. 

‘Formal’ probe starts

After wrapping up its “discreet investigation” that purportedly found the bribery allegations against Abalos “uncorroborated,” Malacañang is set to embark on a “formal” probe on the issue and on other reported anomalies in the NBN deal.

Presidential Management Staff head Cerge Remonde told reporters yesterday that Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita “has already set up a formal investigation” of the NBN issue, which is also being investigated by the Senate. “The Executive Secretary has more or less set that into motion,” he added.

After reportedly being offered “200” by Abalos, Neri said he called President Arroyo who told him to reject the bribe but approve the NBN deal anyway. He declined to reveal more details of his conversation with Mrs. Arroyo, citing “executive privilege.” In his Senate testimony, Neri said he presumed the “200” to be P200 million. Neri said the offer was made sometime in January or February at the Wack Wack Golf & Country Club when he was still NEDA chief.

Ermita earlier said that after learning of the alleged bribe attempt, President Arroyo instructed him to initiate a “discreet” investigation, and that he sought the help of Teves and Favila for the task.

Remonde said that the National Bureau of Investigation is one of the agencies being considered by the Palace to help in the formal investigation. He did not elaborate.

The NBN controversy has divided the administration coalition and threatened to cause the impeachment of Abalos. Prominent House members endorsed an impeachment complaint filed by Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico on Thursday.

Probe nears end

The Senate is expected to conduct two more hearings on the NBN deal before it goes on recess on Oct.13.

“The committee report, as envisioned, given our preliminary discussions, will have several segments, one dealing with the corruption, another dealing with the procurement process, and what we can do to correct or close the loopholes in the procurement process, and thirdly with respect to the security angle,” Roxas said.

He said there is a need to determine what new legislation can be introduced to address the loopholes in the executive agreements.

“It’s clear that the allowance given for executive agreements seems to be very much abused. We as a country have set forth, and the Congress has set forth, a policy that as a default on all procurement, it must be by bidding,” Roxas said. “The exception is if there is an executive agreement,” he said.

Roxas noted that the NBN deal was never subjected to bidding.

“Our primal modality or method desired for buying things is through bidding. It has been set aside,” he said.

“I think that is one outcome from all these hearings. This exception to public bidding must be further restricted. There must be scrutiny and a check-and-balance step that must be a part of any executive agreement,” Roxas said.

Meanwhile, Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr defended his questioning Abalos about text messages of the latter’s alleged love affair.

“I’m not interested in the romantic affairs but in the alleged economic link of Abalos to the lady in the ZTE investigation. It’s not my business to delve into Abalos’ moral but legal deviations,” Pimentel said in a text message.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago meanwhile urged her colleagues to endorse the bribery allegations against Abalos to the Ombudsman for preliminary investigation.

“This is to respectfully recommend that the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee at this state of the ZTE probe, can now endorse the case to the Ombudsman, for preliminary investigation of those parties suspected of bribery and corruption,” Santiago said in a letter sent to Cayetano.

“So in my view, there is not much to be served if the Senate pursues this particular issue of credibility,” she said.  But Cayetano said it is still premature to conclude the Senate inquiry.  He said the Senate wants to scrutinize the deal further on its technical aspects and whether the government should still pursue it.

He also said that the senators might compel Neri to divulge the details of his conversation with President Arroyo on the alleged P200-million bribe offer of Abalos.

He did not rule out the possibility of citing a witness like Neri for contempt if he persists in refusing to tell more about the questionable NBN deal.

“The direct link of the President is not yet on record but the indirect link (has been established) since she is the chairman of the ICC (Investment Coordination Committee),” Cayetano said.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan and Sen. Francis Escudero said national interest should always prevail over executive privilege.

Sen. Richard Gordon, for his part, said it would be best for the President to junk the deal.

“This contract is poisoned all together. It is toxic already,” Gordon said.

‘Nauseating’ project

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the NBN contract with ZTE Corp. joined the list of “nauseating” projects of the Arroyo administration.

“There are leading figures in the administration with their parallel partners that are only too eager to make money – very much money – to fund extravagant contracts, to support their greed for power while filling their pockets at the same time,” Cruz said in a statement.

“There is already a long litany of corrupt and corrupting ventures that the executive department has undertaken. In fact, they are not only too many to mention but also very nauseating to remember. The ZTE fiasco is but one of them,” he said.

Meanwhile, a lawyers’ group asked the Supreme Court yesterday to order the cancellation of the ZTE contract.

In its 81-page petition for certiorari, prohibition and mandamus, the Lawyers and Advocates for Accountability, Transparency, Integrity and Good Governance (LATIGO) also asked the DOTC to bid out the NBN project to ensure transparency and prevent corruption.

“(The) NBN-ZTE controversial deal is indeed one of its kind even in the bar of public opinion.  It is truly suspicious and extremely unpopular because of the alleged anomalies perpetrated by unscrupulous government officials who aim nothing but the increase of our foreign debt ultimately affecting the Filipino people in the guise of modernizing our information and communication technology industry,” LATIGO said in its petition.

“The contract in question must be annulled for being contrary to law,” Latigo spokesman Galeleo Angeles said. – With Marvin Sy, Christina Mendez, Eva Visperas and Mike Frialde