Senate wraps up ZTE, starts South rail probe

April 29, 2008

The Senate’s three-committee panel that undertook a probe into the $329-million ZTE-National Broadband Network project has decided not to wait for the final ruling of the Supreme Court on the Romulo Neri case involving the invocation of executive privilege, as the Senate probers are ready to wrap up their inquiry into the controversial ZTE-NBN deal, even in the absence of any testimony directly linking Malacañang or even President Arroyo to the alleged kickbacks and bribery surrounding the botched contract.

Despite this, however, overall lead investigator, blue ribbon committee chairman Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano indicated that the panel report they are now readying, which is due to be presented in the plenary in two weeks’ time, indicates “conclusive evidence” of the Executive’s liability, as well as the liability of China-based ZTE Corp. in the alleged irregularities committed in transacting the NBN project.

Cayetano, it was gathered yesterday, will also immediately kick off an inquiry into another alleged tainted contract which has a supposed $70 million in kickbacks in the rehabilitation of the Southrail transit.

He also called for the reopening of purported highly-overpriced North Luzon railways project.

The senator, in giving reporters a hint as to what would be contained in the Senate panels’ findings on the ZTE probe, said that while testimonies such as that of Commission on Higher Education (Ched) Romulo Neri will turn out to be lacking in direct testimony directly implicating the Chief Executive, there is still substantial information leading to this impression and conclusion.

“There is evidence leading up to the Office of the President. There is no direct testimony..but the best example I can give right now is that Neri himself told the President that there was P200 million (in alleged bribe money) having been offered to him. And despite this allegation, this contract was still approved. So you can’t say that the Office of the President has nothing to do with this or didn’t know about the corruption because the President herself said, before signing it that she knew there was corruption involved.

“But whether she knew of it and she’s involved in it are two different things. I would prefer that there was direct testimony. So I’m still hoping that within this week to next week, new witnesses or those witnesses (who have yet to come out) will come forward so that people can judge for themselves who is telling the truth,” he said in an interview with reporters.

Whether or not the committees find certain high-ranking government official accountable for the ZTE-NBN mess, liability to the laws does not exclude the so-called contracting party which is the China-based telecommunications company that bagged the contract.

The senator said that under Philippine laws, when bribery is involved, “nationality” of those implicated as liable do not matter.

“So if we conclude that there was bribery here, we will not look at nationality,” he said.

Although the joint-panel report is already underway, Cayetano said he is not yet closing the door in having another round of proceedings before presenting on the floor his findings, especially since there are colleagues who want to hear or summon witnesses that would provide the link directly to the Office of the President.

Even Cayetano himself admitted that he still has another witness who is yet to come out publicly and has not backed out.

But the Senate panels conducting the inquiry – blue ribbon, trade and commerce and national defense committees – are practically giving the prospective witnesses, some two weeks, in deciding whether to testify in the upper chamber.

“The doors of the blue ribbon committee are open to them but I can’t wait forever for them…I’m still hoping that within the next week that witnesses or those witnesses would come forward so that people can judge for themselves who is telling the truth. But I do know for a fact that those witnesses exist,” he said.

The matter came up after Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said in a radio interview earlier in the day that Cayetano still has a witness “in waiting” and that probe will be terminated after one last round of public hearing.

“When I talked to him the other day, I asked him if there will be another ZTE hearing, he said he still has another witness to hear but he doesn’t have any schedule (for the witness or the hearing) yet,” Estrada said.

Cayetano confirmed this during the interview prior to the afternoon plenary session, adding that he will not hesitate to reconvene the three panels if there would be a substantial and credible witness who will surface within the next two weeks.

“We’re hoping they will come forward. But we don’t want the report to be dependent on them. At the end of this week, we will reassess everything,” he said.

While he refuses to discuss the details of the report, Cayetano said it will revolve around the issue of the alleged abduction of their so-called star witness, Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr. and the alleged kickbacks.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in a separate interview, said he is against the termination of the proceedings saying that there are a number of personalities who have yet to testify such as the remaining members of the so-called “Greedy Group.”

“They can be compelled (to testify). There had been an understanding in the committee that they should be compelled to appear,” he said.

“If the blue ribbon will always wait for voluntary witnesses, what will become of our inquiry? We will not exert effort to look for or convince witnesses? Even if there are no voluntary witnesses, we should compel those who can provide information even, at least compel them to undergo questioning by the senators,” he said.

For one, Lacson said businessman Ruben Reyes who is an alleged member of the Greedy Gorup, has been recently sighted playing golf in Wack wack, Mandaluyong.

“He and his lawyer promised the committee they will attend the hearings and testify. Why should we not get in touch with him, for him to make good his promise? It’s only a matter of following up on these witnesses.

“If it should only be a preliminary report, that would be okay with me. But to finalize the committee report, I don’t think it’s the correct thing to do right now,” he said.

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