I have repeatedly written in my past blogs (and I shall not get tired writing) about the gravity of the malignant cancer of corruption now seriously killing the distrusted, maligned and lameduck government of the illegitimate Philippine Pres. Gloria Arroyo since she was elevated in 2001 by the people power movement (EDSA II) of the ignorant Filipinos who innocently trusted her cunning and shrewd character.
Once again the Philippine Senate has confirmed what the hopeless and desperate Filipino public have known and grown numb to since time immemorial in modern Philippine neo-colonial history.
Read the items below from the Philippine Star’s and the Philippine Daily Inquirer's issues today.
One scandal involves more than 60, 000 billion pesos (road taxes); the other, more than 329 million US dollars (telecomm deal with China) -- enough to feed millions of malnourished Filipino children for a long, long time and enough to build tens of thousands of low-cost houses for the homeless and jobless urban poor Filipinos.
Please note that the Senate blue ribbon committee report on the corrupt Chinese telecomm deal in fact strongly recommended that an impeachments investigation be commenced against Pres. Arroyo by the Office of the Ombudsman, whose occupant, by the way, is her former presidential legal counsel and a very close classmate of her husband in law school.
The impeachment investigation will surely suffer the Mona Liza syndrome at the untrustworthy doorsteps of the Ombudsman: ...And they lie there, and they die there...
Opinion
EDITORIAL - 'Apocalyptic corruption'
The Philippine Star)
Updated November 11, 2009 12:00 AM
From 2001 to 2009, the government collected a total of P60.5 billion, paid by motorists as road users’ tax in the registration of vehicles. Under the law that created the tax, the money, administered by the Road Board, is supposed to be used exclusively for road maintenance and improvement of road drainage, the installation of traffic lights and road safety devices, and for air pollution control.
As the colossal flooding during storm “Ondoy” and typhoon “Pepeng” showed, the improvement of road drainage has been a joke. And driving around Metro Manila will quickly illustrate the lackadaisical enforcement of laws regulating vehicular emissions.
How was the P60.5 billion spent? The Commission on Audit reported that P332.64 million of the road tax, earmarked for the OYSTER or Out-of-School Youth Serving Towards Economic Recovery program, was transferred to the Philippine National Police. Why? Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago wants to know, and so does the public.
Santiago, who spearheaded a Senate probe into the use of the road tax, noted that the PNP is under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, whose head Ronaldo Puno happens to be the brother of former Road Board executive director Rodolfo Puno. Santiago also noted that in 2007, an election year, there was an “unusually large amount of allotments obligated” involving the road tax. She said the case involved “apocalyptic corruption.”
The apparent fund juggling could have been facilitated by the fact that the tax is not remitted by the collecting agency, the Land Transportation Office, to the National Treasury but deposited in special accounts under the supervision of the Road Board, whose ex officio chair is the secretary of public works and highways. On Monday night the Senate unanimously approved the filing of plunder and graft cases against Rodolfo Puno, Danilo Valero of the board and Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., who recently resigned from the public works department.
Beyond pursuing the prosecution of anyone who might have misused the multibillion-peso fund, lawmakers should also consider changing the system of handling the tax, in a way that would promote transparency and prevent its misuse. Such oversight mechanisms are needed as the tax continues to be collected and the temptation to misuse the funds increases as the 2010 elections approach.
Senate panel tags GMA, First Gentleman in ZTE case
By Aurea Calica
(The Philippine Star)
Updated November 11, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The Senate Blue Ribbon committee has recommended the filing of graft charges against First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo and other personalities involved in the anomalous $329-million national broadband network (NBN) contract with China’s ZTE Corp.
In the same report, the committee recommended the further investigation of President Arroyo for her role in the approval of the controversial contract.
The committee, led by Sen. Richard Gordon, also sought the filing of charges against businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III and former government consultant Rodolfo Lozada Jr., the two whistle-blowers of the case.
The committee also recommended the filing of graft charges against former socio-economic planning secretary Romulo Neri, former elections chief Benjamin Abalos and Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, as well as Assistant Secretaries Elmer Soneja and Lorenzo Formoso.
Gordon said the committee also found substantial evidence to warrant the filing of charges against Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza for their alleged attempt to prevent Lozada from testifying at the Senate.
Gordon said Gaite and Atienza could be charged with violation of Article 150 of the Revised Penal Code.
The First Gentleman, through his lawyer Ruy Rondain, said they have yet to receive a copy of the Senate report.
“I haven’t seen the report but I would like to point out that there was a case filed by several individuals several months ago before the Office of the Ombudsman and the Ombudsman a few months ago came out with a resolution saying there is no evidence linking the First Gentleman (to the) case,” Rondain told The STAR.
Rondain said the Ombudsman, after reviewing evidence including the entire Senate transcript of the hearings, “found no evidence versus Atty. Arroyo beyond speculations and conjectures.”
Rondain brushed aside the legal implications of the Senate report against Mr. Arroyo, saying it was only recommendatory.
Rondain declared there is “no remedy” for any party to file a suit against Mr. Arroyo following the Senate report, since only the Ombudsman is authorized to handle such cases.
“We will let the process take its course,” he said.
Rondain said the complainants must allow the Ombudsman to wrap up its investigations before resorting to any other legal remedy.
While he is not the lawyer of President Arroyo, Rondain expressed the same opinion that there is no evidence that could pin her down.
The President’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, could not be reached for comment.
The Blue Ribbon has yet to release the full 127-page committee report signed by Gordon, with Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Senators Joker Arroyo and
Edgardo Angara as principal sponsors.
Out of the 17 members of the committee, nine senators have yet to sign the report in order to approve the committee report.
The on-and-off investigation began in September 2007 and was concluded last September after 13 days of grueling hearings, four technical working groups and 41 witnesses.
‘Lots to answer for’
The committee report said the Office of the Ombudsman should take the initiative of investigating the President over her role in the ZTE deal.
“The President has lots to answer for. The (Office of 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,” the report said.
The committee noted Mrs. Arroyo enjoys immunity from suit and can only be charged after her term ends on June 30, 2010.
Nonetheless, the committee said the Ombudsman has the constitutional duty to investigate impeachable officers, including the President.
“What the (Ombudsman) should have done was to investigate and make findings to transmit to the House, if an impeachment would have been warranted, rather than a blanket statement of exculpation because of supposed immunity,” the report read.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said President Arroyo did what she had to do after the anomaly came out in the open.
“It is not true that the President did not act on the report of (Neri) that there was an attempt to bribe him. The President ordered Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to investigate through the PNP (Philippine National Police),” Remonde said.
Remonde added Puno ordered the PNP to conduct the probe but the result was still inconclusive.
“Puno reported to the President that there was no basis to file charges against anyone at that time,” Remonde said.
Gordon, however, said the findings of the committee revealed the President did not act accordingly even after she was informed by Neri of the bribery attempt by Abalos.
After confirming the bribery attempt, Neri has refused to comment further on the issue, claiming he has said all he knows about the contract when he testified before the Senate in September last year.
Neri repeatedly shot down calls for him to disclose the details of his conversations with Mrs. Arroyo on the matter by invoking executive privilege.
“You could see the litany of errors on the part of the President, apparently she was not able to crack the whip on her people,” Gordon said.
The Senate committee explained the First Gentleman should be charged with violations of Section 4 (a) and 5 of Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, particularly against private individuals involved in “business, transaction, application, request or contract with the government.”
Gordon said the Arroyos, along with then Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., went to Shenzhen in China, even played golf and had lunch with ZTE officials on Nov. 2, 2006.
It was during that visit when the scandal broke out that the NBN deal was being rigged to favor several government officials, he said.
Gordon stressed the President should explain her meeting with ZTE officials.
In March 2007, De Venecia’s son Joey broke open the anomaly when he implicated Mr. Arroyo for allegedly trying to bully him from pursuing the NBN contract in favor of ZTE.
The younger De Venecia testified that Mr. Arroyo pointed a finger at him while telling him to “back off” from pursuing the NBN project.
De Venecia went on to testify that Abalos was acting as the broker of the NBN contract and was fronting for Mr. Arroyo.
Gordon explained the younger De Venecia should be charged with the same violation of Section 5 of RA 3019, just like the First Gentleman as private individuals.
He said the elder De Venecia should be charged for violation of Section 7 (d) of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials for meddling in the deal.
The committee said Abalos should be charged with violation Section 3 (a) of RA 3019 for “persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act and (h) for directly or indirectly having financing or pecuniary interest in any business, contract or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity.”
Lozada and Neri, on the other hand, should also be charged for the same violations, the committee said.
The Senate committee added Abalos should also be charged with violation of Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code for corruption of public officials.
Lozada will also have to face a case for alleged violation of the Civil Service Law for taking part in the negotiations when he was chief of the Philippine Forest Corp., an agency connected with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Lozada was also the former consultant of the NBN contract that eventually went in favor of ZTE.
Lozada echoed the testimonies of De Venecia III in implicating the First Gentleman and Abalos in the Senate inquiry over the deal.
Mendoza, Soneja and Formoso, on the other hand, were also recommended by the committee to be charged with violation Section 3 (a) of RA 3019 for “directly and indirectly having financing or pecuniary interest in any business, contract, or transaction in connection with which he intervenes or takes part in his official capacity, or in which he is prohibited by the Constitution or by any law from having any interest.” - With Paolo Romero
Senate says Arroyo must be impeached
Recommends raps vs 11 others in NBN-ZTE deal
By Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:30:00 11/11/2009
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
