Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:30:00 11/11/2009
Filed Under: NBN deal, Graft & Corruption, Impeachment, Inquirer Politics
MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is “answerable” for the “stinking” $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp., according to a report by a Senate investigating panel led by the blue ribbon committee.In the report that was made public Tuesday at a press conference by blue ribbon chair Sen. Richard Gordon, the joint committee sought the impeachment of Ms Arroyo and the prosecution by the Ombudsman of 11 others, including her husband Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, for allegedly conspiring to defraud the government in exchange for “kickbacks” from the since scrapped contract.
Asked what impeachable offense Ms Arroyo had committed, Gordon said she had violated her oath of office which was a “culpable violation of the Constitution.”
He cited Section 5 of Article 7, which provides that the President must “preserve and defend the Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man.”
She should have “control” of all executive departments.
“Her acts in this case reveal that her performance of presidential duty has been wanting. Unfortunately, you can see the litany of errors of the President. Apparently, she wasn’t able to crack the whip on her people,” said the senator.
Gordon said Congress could still impeach Ms Arroyo to strip her of immunity from suit as President.
“She has to explain and answer at the proper time,” he said, pointing out that Ms Arroyo could be held accountable even “after her term.”
Very glaring
Gordon told reporters that Ms Arroyo was liable because she did not stop the signing of the contract even after she had been informed of a bribe offer by Romulo Neri, at the time Ms Arroyo’s socioeconomic secretary.
Gordon said: “She did not stop all these people from continuing on with their nefarious activities. Neri had already informed her [of the bribery attempt], she should have ordered an investigation immediately. She should have called all those involved. The President did not do anything. That is very glaring—there was no action taken by the President on all these.”
Apart from the First Couple, the joint committee sought the prosecution for graft and other forms of corruption of the following:
Former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Chair Neri, former Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos, Pangasinan Rep. and former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his son, businessman Jose de Venecia III, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite, Assistant Secretaries Elmer Soneja and Lorenzo Formoso III, former Philippine Forest Corp. president Rodolfo Lozada Jr., and Environment Secretary Lito Atienza.
So far, Senators Gordon, Joker Arroyo, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Gregorio Honasan and Edgardo Angara have signed the 127-page report (not counting the attachments).
Arroyo did something
Asked to comment, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said: “It is not true that the President did not act on the report of the then NEDA secretary that there was an attempt to bribe him.
“The President ordered Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to investigate through the Philippine National Police.
“Puno said the PNP promptly conducted an investigation. However, he said, the result was inconclusive at the time. Puno reported to the President that there was no basis to file charges against anyone at that time.”
Reached by phone, Neri said: “I just heard about it, but I don’t know the details so I don’t know how to react.”
Said Abalos: “We’ve been charged already. Ano pa gusto nila (What else do they want)? A lot of people have already filed cases against us.”
The Department of Transportation and Communications declined comment pending receipt of a copy of the report.
Proper use of oversight
The blue ribbon committee led the Senate inquiry. The committees on trade and commerce and on national defense and security were the other members of the joint investigating panel.
Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros, who was among the people who had filed a case against those involved in the deal, said the joint Senate committee showed the proper use of congressional oversight.
Hontiveros agreed that Ms Arroyo had a lot of explaining to do. “[The report] further belies the findings of the Office of the Ombudsman [which cleared the President and her husband of liability],” she said.
“The Ombudsman was too quick on the draw,” said Gordon.
Ombudsman wrong
Said Gordon: “The Ombudsman is wrong in merely dismissing the case against the President on the mere pretext of presidential immunity from suit. The Ombudsman must make a finding and forward it to the House of Representatives.”
He said it was not for the Office of the Ombudsman to clear the President of liability.
He cited Section 22 of Republic Act No. 6770 (Ombudsman Act of 1989), which provides that the Office of the Ombudsman “shall have the power to investigate any serious misconduct in office allegedly committed by officials removable by impeachment.”
Gordon said Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez should have looked into the scandal and issued findings for transmittal to the House “if an impeachment would have been warranted, rather than a blanket statement of exculpation because of supposed immunity.”
Neither was it for the Ombudsman to say that there was no more impeachment process to be had because of the one-year ban on the filing of impeachment complaints, he said.
The NBN project sought to link national agencies with local government units through a high-capacity telecommunications network.
The President canceled the NBN-ZTE contract in October 2007 amid charges that her husband was involved in the deal that was denounced as overpriced and disadvantageous to the country.
Battle of elite
Gordon described the NBN-ZTE scandal, which rocked the administration in 2007, “as a never-ending battle among the political elite for economic power, domination and control.”
“In the middle of it all is a President who was unable to control and discipline her own men as they fought over kickbacks. She kept her silence in the midst of the corruption—acquiescing and condoning the deed,” he said.
Gordon said the joint committee found that “the facts pointing to her (Ms Arroyo) may not be total, but the stink is perceived to have reached her office.”
Part of the executive summary read:
“This is a story of how people in high places—the relatives of the most powerful men and women in government—took advantage of their relationships, either with their parent or spouse, to cajole the executive into entering into a national broadband contract that would obtain something our country did not need, and which was manifestly disadvantageous to the Filipino people.”
The joint committee described the scandal as a “war of the most powerful, most influential and most organized syndicates in government, some members of which are public officers, who were at each other’s throats because of an alleged double cross.”
Almost a year
It took Gordon almost a year after assuming the chairmanship of the Senate blue ribbon committee to make public the outcome of the lengthy investigation of the NBN-ZTE scandal.
The inquiry was first undertaken by Gordon’s predecessor, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who was removed as blue ribbon chair following the ouster of Senate President Manuel Villar in November 2008.
Upon the prodding of Senators Cayetano and Pimentel, Gordon conducted a final hearing on Sept. 1, ostensibly to fill in “information gaps” in the draft report prepared by the committee secretariat.
Originally, the NBN project was conceived by Malacañang to be implemented through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme wherein the cost would be fully shouldered by the private proponent.
Subsequently, the Palace junked the BOT option in favor of a scheme that required the government to secure a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China to finance the project.
The Philippine government later awarded the project to ZTE Corp.
During the Senate’s public hearings, witnesses testified on the purported overpricing and other terms and conditions of the contract that were disadvantageous to the government.
They claimed that bribe money went to the pockets of certain public officials to ensure approval of the project.
Among the key witnesses who testified at the inquiry were Neri, Lozada and Dante Madriaga, who served as a consultant to a business group that brokered and designed the project proposal.
In aid of reelection?
Asked to comment, Nueva Ecija Rep. Eduardo Nonato Joson said that even if one assumed that the Senate report was issued “in aid of reelection,” it also laid down grounds to prosecute the First Couple.
“Of course, the case, if any, will depend on the next president even if the Ombudsman will not be impeached,” he said.
Joson also aired the suspicion that the Ombudsman’s earlier findings might have been issued to preempt the Senate report.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo said the report showed that Ms Arroyo should have been charged if only she did not enjoy immunity at present.
Ocampo’s colleague in Bayan Muna, Rep. Teodoro Casiño, said that while he had yet to read the report, the joint committee appeared to have done a good job.
He added: “We hope the report can be used as additional material to revise the Ombudsman’s findings.” With reports from Christian V. Esguerra, Leila B. Salaverria, Ronnel Domingo and Kristine Alave
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091111-235499/Senate-says-Arroyo-must-be-impeached
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