GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc, The Philippine Star, Monday, September 3, 2007
What happens to the ZTE issue —now that Rep. Carlos Padilla bravely has linked Comelec head Ben Abalos to the deal, and Abalos as boldly has admitted junketing four times to
Going by Congress rules, three committees will inquire into the $330-million (P16-billion) deal. Those on information-communication technology and on electoral reform will study if new laws are needed. That on good government might urge legal action against the dealmakers. Depending on emerging evidence, others may join later. Abalos could even be impeached, according to Reps. Prospero Nograles and Ronaldo Zamora.
A frank probe could show overpricing. Two ZTE competitors decry the Department of Transport and Communications’ ignoring their much lower bids. That can be ascertained if the House orders the DOTC to reveal once and for all its findings on all the bids instead of hiding them. The propriety of the Comelec chief’s performing of executive functions, in entertaining ZTE Corp. as foreign investor, can be clarified. The admission of accepting all-expense-paid travels — a violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials — could be basis for impeachment.
Congress could expand its probe into related matters. It can study if the executive branch can keep on invoking “executive agreement” to avoid public biddings. Too, if a done deal with a foreign firm, followed only later by a government-to-government loan, can pass as “executive agreement” at all. Another item for study is what should take priority: a negotiated deal covered by executive confidentiality, or open bids under the Build-Operate-Transfer Law.
Needing both legislation and prosecution is the government’s breach of the Constitution’s transparency rule. There’s need to uphold public right to information. For months competitors asked the DOTC why the Chinese firm suddenly broke ahead of line in spite of their earlier submissions. They got no reply. Even the
Padilla would need to call in Teves to testify. Begging details are the now supposedly separate meetings Teves had with ZTE execs — called by Abalos and Mendoza. Padilla also can subpoena the competitors to tell their stories. But he must himself expound on the item in his exposé — on ZTE’s Filipino rival being “asked to withdraw” its proposal. Indeed, who did the asking?
All this must be squeezed out, even if the truth in this ZTE story, as The STAR editorial last Saturday lamented, comes only in trickles. Slow is better than no truth at all, which is what would happen if Malacañang forbids executive officials from testifying.
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Expect in the meantime defenders of the ZTE deal to obfuscate the issue. One fabrication is that Padilla and I connived for his explosive Wednesday speech. Truth is, until I interviewed him Saturday on my radio show (Sapol, DWIZ 882-AM), we hadn’t talked in years.
Ascribing all sorts of motives for my writings, pseudonymous hate-mailers play God in reading my heart. Among their lies is that I work for the CIA that supposedly backs ZTE’s American rival, or a distant in-law who co-owns the Filipino competitor, and even for the three giant telcos. All this follows the initial media harassment in attempting to link me to the alleged document theft (assuming there really was a theft). Newspaper ads by the moneyed ZTE against me are but the beginning of another round of attacks. Kickbackers of $200 million (P10 billion) think they can even get away with murder.
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Expect more twists too. Already, two officials have been removed due to the ZTE exposés, and a graft investigator was sacked. Sources and investigative reporters have been bugged or stalked, or e-mails cloned. They pay the price for tenacity in bringing out the truth.
Let’s hope others who know about this scam also would speak up, for the sake of our abused country. It will be hard; the perpetrators may harm them. But they must tough it out. So to them I share again this Prayer for Courage:
“Dear God, give me courage, for perhaps I lack it more than anything else. I need courage before men against their threats and their seductions. I need courage to bear unkindness, mockery, contradiction; I need courage to fight against the devil, against terrors, troubles, temptations, attractions, darkness and false lights; against tears, depression and, above all, fear. I need Thy help, dear God. Strengthen me with Thy love and Thy grace. Console me with Thy blessed presence and grant me the courage to persevere until I am with Thee forever in heaven. Amen.” It always works.
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