GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Bring your case to the proper forums, critics of the ZTE deal are told. One such forum is Congress. Since Rep. Carlos Padilla has linked Comelec chief Ben Abalos to the Chinese firm’s fishy contract, apt committees must now investigate, for legislation or prosecution. But from indications, there won’t be a deep probe. Malacañang has shushed Cabinet men who know about the needless, hurried, overpriced national broadband project. All executive branch officers who will be summoned by Congress will have to get presidential clearance to talk. And Abalos, who can sway any politico’s life, has dared congressmen if they really want to grill him.
Stumped, should the critics turn elsewhere, say, Beijing?
It’s timely to do so. Chinese authorities are cracking down hard on government and corporate corruption. The cleanup is part of China’s new branding. Top leaders are aiming for a fresh image that “Made in China” equals high quality. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Shanghai World Expo will be the main showcases. So sleaze by Communist Party bigwigs and government bureaucrats, as by tycoons, is dealt with severely.
In April the Shanghai Party boss in charge of housing was detained for taking part in shady property deals. Days later the chief of Beijing’s university and techno-park district was detained on similar charges. This month last year no less than the powerful Shanghai Party chief was jailed for misusing pension funds. Harshest of all was the execution for bribery of China’s pharmaceutical licensing head. The Party has elevated the Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission to the charge of the Politburo’s sixth highest man. Government also formed in February a Corruption Prevention Bureau.
The crackdown has moved into state and private enterprises. The chairman of state-owned Sinopec, Asia’s largest oil and gas refiner, was sacked in June for corruption. So was the president of the State Grid, only a week before China’s power producer was to bid for management of RP’s Transmission Company. The 2004 death of dozens of infants from bogus milk formula; the discovery of toxic toothpaste, toys and seafood; and the millions of complaints about collapsing garden chairs, faulty space heaters and lethal necklaces has prompted authorities to impose stricter product tests and standards. Businesses are now required to register for regulation. International accounting rules are being adopted. Purchasing managers have been put under stern rules on accepting gifts.
The image retooling is far-reaching. Stung by worldwide censure for dirty factories and polluted waterways, Beijing leaders also have set new environment standards along with incentives for green technology. And the Party has begun to appoint respected non-members to head ministries like health and science.
In Manila, where dozens of Chinese firms operate and thousands of nationals work, the embassy enforces Beijing’s initiatives. Proof: its swift action on complaints about defective decorative lighting and formalin in candies. Surely, Beijing’s reps in the Philippines would not want a public outrage against ZTE Corp.’s scandalous dealings to disrupt China’s new branding.
Chinese executives, along with their Filipino partners, can complain to the embassy — or directly to Beijing — about ZTE’s apparent breaches of laws. (Abalos somehow admitted to one violation when he said ZTE paid for all expenses in at least four trips to Shenzhen last year.) Bringing the matter to top Chinese officials might stop the $330-million (P16-billion) telecom purchase from pushing through. It would save Filipinos from having to pay the amount for a project that experts said is unnecessary and competitive bids show is too much.
Two Chinese high officials are in town: Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and Vice Chairman Jiang Zhenghua of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. They can be approached.
Meanwhile, stockholders of the giant telecom maker can question their managers about events in Manila. The troubles seem to mimic similar deals in Mexico City, Burma, Indonesia and Liberia. Sleaze is not a good way to run a company that operates in over a hundred countries. Scandal must be avoided if listed in the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges.
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The opening of an NCLEX test center in Makati has two big benefits. Nurses no longer have to spend P50,000-P100,000 to travel to Hong Kong or Seoul to take the US licensure exam. More than the usual 10,000 Filipinos a year will be able to take it and get a chance to work in America.
What’s left to pay is the drive, flight or sail to the Trident Tower on 312 Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, and the $350 exam fee. It’s convenient since tests are conducted Monday to Friday, by appointment.
Dante Ang asks, as bringer of the center to RP, that examinees refrain from memorizing questions and tipping off others. The US National Council of State Boards of Nursing might up and leave like it did from cities where copyright infringement was rampant.
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E-mail:
jariusbondoc@workmail.com
