by Evangeline de Vera
The Supreme Court en banc yesterday issued a temporary restraining order on the $329 million National Broadband Network project which the Department of Transportation and Communications entered into with the Chinese firm ZTE Corporation.
The high court granted the consolidated petitions of Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico and Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI) pending its decision on Suplico’s prayer to declare the broadband contract as unconstitutional.
The high court did not act on Suplico’s request to set the case for oral arguments.
Respondents were the National Economic Development Authority, NEDA-Investment Coordination Committee, DOTC, Commission on Information and Communications Technology chaired by Ramon Sales, Telecommunications Office-Bids and Awards for Information and Communications Technology Committee (ICT) headed by DOTC Assistant Secretary Elmer Soneja and its Technical Working Group, DOTC Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso, and all other operational units of the DOTC for ICT, and ZTE Corporation, AHI and Arescom Inc.
AHI, a local firm whose principal stockholder is Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, filed the TRO petition Monday and at the same time asked the high court that it be allowed to obtain “reconstituted” copies of the contract.
AHI was the original proponent for the contract and submitted an unsolicited proposal.
The high court granted the motion of ZTE’s counsels from the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala and Cruz Law Offices until September 28 to file their comment on Suplico’s petition.
Suplico, in a taxpayer suit filed Aug. 1, said the NBN project violated existing laws and jurisprudence and is inconsistent with government policies on public transparency, accountability and self-reliance.
Suplico said the contract should be nullified as sovereign loans and guarantees require the prior concurrence of the Monetary Board.
He said the transaction was carried out without public bidding.
He said the deal violates the Build-Operate-Transfer Law which provides that in case of unsolicited proposals, “no direct guarantee, subsidy or equity is required.”
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye refused to comment, saying the Palace is still awaiting a copy of the order.
Opposition senators said the Senate probe on the broadband contract would proceed despite the TRO.
“Everyone is reviewing the contract. China and GMA will review the contract. DOJ is reviewing the contract. The Supreme Court is also looking into it. So the Senate ought to review the contract also,” Blue Ribbon chair Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said.
He said his committee and the trade panel of Sen. Mar Roxas will proceed with the investigation next Tuesday.
Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said he would like to know if the government did not violate the Constitution when it went ahead with the project “without prior approval of the Monetary Board.”
“Secretary Mendoza said on TV that the contract still needs the approval of the monetary board. But the Constitution says “prior approval” not post approval,” he said.
But Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said the Senate should postpone its planned investigation in the light of the issuance of the TRO. “Kung ako lang, we should await the disposition of the case by the Supreme Court,” he said.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, in a privilege speech, disclosed the ZTE-NBN contract was intentionally “lost” to stave off possible controversy that would arise from it.
“I would say, they were purposely hidden because as soon as the President and Secretary Mendoza came back to this country, the stink that is the NBN-ZTE mega-deal began to smell all over,” Lacson said.
Lacson showed his colleagues a copy of the supposed “missing” original NBN-ZTE contract and compared it to the copy of the “reconstituted” contract.
“Except for intercalating pagination on every sheet, it is word-for-word similar to the “lost” original contract,” Lacson said.
He said he obtained the contracts from a source at the DOTC.
He said the “reconstituted” contract was “mysteriously” similar to the “missing” original contract bearing the signatures of Mendoza and Yu Yong, ZTE vice president, found on the exact space where the signatures should be.
Lacson said even the 39 pages were “initialed” by the same contract reviewer “on exactly the same spot in the every page.”
“Parehong-pareho. Hindi nawawala ang kontrata,” he said.
“Who did Formoso think he could fool about his cloak-and-dagger yarn of a theft in the hotel room of a DTI trade attaché in Hainan?” he said. Formoso has said the original contract, which was signed in Boao, China, was missing.
Lacson said Finance Secretary Margarito Teves and former NEDA chief Romulo Neri opposed the project at the outset but Mendoza was insistent.
THE NBN-ZTE contract was likewise a complete take-off from the original conditions laid down by President Arroyo during the Nov. 26, 2006 meeting at the National Economic and Development Authority which she presided.
Arroyo said “that the contract should be on a build-operate-transfer scheme; there should be no government subsidies; there should be no ‘take or pay” conditionalities; and, it should result in a substantial reduction of government telecommunications expense.”
Neri questioned the much-touted savings to be derived by government offices from Internet usage when there are only very few government offices connected to the information highway.
Teves questioned the possible duplication and “overlaps” that the ZTE broadband contract will have with the more expensive Cyber-Education project with the Department of Education (DepEd) worth P40 billion.
But Lacson said after three weeks, Neri somersaulted by endorsing the project to China’s Commerce Secretary Bo Xilai and Li Ruogu, chair of the Export-Import Bank of China, which would bankroll the project to be paid by government.
“What or who could have pressured the otherwise upright Mr. Neri to suddenly sign approval of the NBN project he and his staff vehemently objected to earlier?” he said.
Lacson said even Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez issued an opinion “on the validity of a contract that was lost and stolen!”
Lacson said he was also able to obtain the minutes of the meeting of the economic team which tackled the proposed NBN project, which showed the project was estimated to cost P19.4 billion, P19 billion of which would be sourced through foreign loans.
He said after a series of meetings and “contorted reasoning” advanced by the DOTC team of Secretary Mendoza, the contract officially became the $329.4 million NBN contract.
President Arroyo did not allow Favila to attend the Question Hour at the House today on the broadband deal.
In a one-page letter to Speaker Jose de Venecia, Favila said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita advised him not to attend because the President has not given him permission.
“Please convey to the Speaker that you were unable to secure the permission of the President pursuant to Section 22, Article VI of the Constitution and accordingly attend the said Question Hour,” Ermita said in a letter to Favila.
Section 22 requires department heads to secure the President’s approval before appearing before Congress.
The House sent invitations to Mendoza and Favila last week after the proposal of Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez was approved by the committee on rules. – With Dennis Gadil, Wendell Vigilia and Regina Bengco
Gloria utak ng broadband scam — Ping (www.abante-tonite.com)
O ayan, Lacson already named Gloria.
The conspirators big and small, government insiders as well as outsiders but recognized as having direct links to the Palace (lobbyists, fixers, big business leg men, etc.), big boss or not, involved in this grossly immoral attempt to loot and defraud the nation’s treasury need to be be quizzed – their moral responsibility in this attempted heist should be raised at national level, then they should be pounced on with the only tool the nation has in its hands today – they be slapped duly with criminal charges, convicted and imprisoned.
China’s ZTE corporate executives must be fuming mad over this decision and will most likely get back to one of the local actors in the heist for some “robust explanations!”, i.e., where’s my money, give money back or else…
Buti nga sa kanila!
Malaya news: “Under Section 5 of the Anti-Graft and Corruption Practices Act, “it shall be unlawful for the spouse or for any relative by consanguinity or affinity, within the third civil degree of the President of the Philippines, Vice President of the Philippines, Philippine Senate President, Speaker of the House, to intervene directly or indirectly, in any business, transaction, contract or application with the government.”
That section of the law is VERY explicit – it is clear cut therefore, no alibis, no excuses, no pretenses, no baloneyx for this attempted heist, the daylight looting of national treasury, should be entertained by the people of the Philippines. Let the sword of Lady Justice now fall on whoever it must fall.
Enough of corruption – time for reckoning, time the Filipinos stop this organized crime syndicate!
Paano nila ibalik iyong multi-million US dollars na payoff?
Kung matinik ang ZTE sa lagayan sa boung daigdig pero naisahan sila ng isang matsing na katulad ni Benjaimin Abalos ng Pilipinas. Ang balita ko maraming opisyales ng China’s ZTE Corp. ay ex-military generals at malapit sa pamahalang Tsina. Delikado sila Gloria Arroyo, Abalos at Mendoza kung sakaling buweltahan sila.
Diego,
I agree – delikado sila talaga.
Di malapit na silang gawing rekado ng pancit Canton at i-prito parang Peking duck.
Exchanging pleasant reminiscences with a financial-consultant friend over lunch, the chat took an ugly turn into the subject of government corruption. When I touched on Jose Pidal’s linkage to smuggling and jueteng, he grinned with self-confident aplomb saying he knows people who swear he is a piker compared to his wife. There could be fire in the billowing smoke of top level corruption.
The GMA-HU summit in Sydney and discussion of the stinking ZTE deal is political damage control crucial to both countries. China aims to ease the rate of her deteriorating image as exporter of defective goods (deadly pet food, tainted snacks and toothpaste, lead painted toys, etc). GMA gains by the publicity of abrogation (maybe, perhaps, hopefully) of the onerous ZTE deal. Yet the discussion may not have gone far enough to cancel the other big projects in the $1.8 Billion loan that includes the Cyber-Education and North Rail projects, a loan that looms as an atrociously arrant borrowing frenzy by rapacious officials preparing for their 2010 bum’s rush.
Ang mga mahihirap sa atin ay namumulot na lang para lang may makain at yong mga tusong mahihirap ay nagnanakaw na lang para may pambili ng ulam pero ano tong ginagawa ng pekeng administrasyon, kurakot dito kurakot doon. Sila kaya ay nakakatulog sa gabi? Ano ba ang gusto nila, limasin ang kaban ng Bayan? Kailan pa tayo gagalaw? Yong Presidente noon ay pinatalsik nila dahil sabi nila ay dahil sa pangumgurakot niya pero hindi pala dahil plinano na pala nila ng matagal. Ibig sabihin pati yong ibinibintang kay Erap ay plinano rin pala nila e di ibig sabihin walang kasalanan si Erap. Mga buw*&%*^%(&%^&%*&%*^%*& inang mga yan di pa sila tamaan ng kidlat. PUWEEEEE!!!!
Just in case..hindi matuloy itong deal with ZTE will Abalos return the money he received? Sana China would retaliate in whatever way they can. Mukha atang naka kuha ang China ng boomerang sa Australia..
Yun talaga ang problema, paano yung na-advance na na sandamukal na pera.
Kung hindi na nila makuha..serves them right for dealing with corrupt officials..
Rose:
Baka naman sinadyang ipagkanulo si Abalos para lusot sila when they cancel the deal with ZTE just like what they did to the German company whose money in building that terminal at the airport has not been returned and is being charged of this and that breach of contract instead. Trick na yata nila iyan to make instant money. Puede naman silang makalusot with their friends in the court handling their cases that in other more progressive countries and where the rule of law applies is considered are criminal like fraud, swwindling, embezzlement of funds, etc. plus abuse of power and pinaka!
I don’t know if it is right or not to blame the foreign companies who just want to make money. Di bale kung may nag-warning sa kanila. Then, we can blame the foreign company from still going into such transactions, but I guess foreign companies can be deceived if they are supplied only with newspapers friendly to the looting couple and their cohorts like Manila Standard, PhilStar, etc. I doubt if they get to read Ellen’s till now.
What was the word I heard use for Malaya, for instance? Periopula, meaning, kommie!!! You write against the unano, they mark you as red gaya ng sinasabi ng mga Amerikanong hilaw kahit na hindi ka naman kasanib sa grupo ni Joma!
Sa totoo lang talaga, kaya nakukuha pa nitong si Abalaos ngumiti eh, naibangko na niya(pati mga ibang alipores ni tiyanak na sangkot dito)ang mga perang nakuha nila na China.
Alam ko na ang sasabihin ni tiyanak sa China, “pabayaan na ninyo ang nawalang milyones sa ZTE at ako na ang bahala sa mga kargamentong papasok sa Pilipinas, kahit na ilang barko ng mga produkto na may masamang kemikal, ilulusot ko, malay ba ng mga tangang Pilipino”. O dili kaya, “Di bale na lang, babawi na lang tayo sa mga deals na wala pang nakakaalam, marami pa naman kaming mga kailangan sa Pilipinas eh at may tatlong taon pa tayong magluluto ng mga kontratang pagkakaperahan!”
Do you know the law firm representing ZTE is the firm where Senator Angara is a partner? Baka pati si Angara kasangkot sa
kurakot niyan. Notice his silence.
AdeBrux Says:
September 12th, 2007 at 2:59 am
Malaya news: “Under Section 5 of the Anti-Graft and Corruption Practices Act, “it shall be unlawful for the spouse or for any relative by consanguinity or affinity, within the third civil degree of the President of the Philippines, Vice President of the Philippines, Philippine Senate President, Speaker of the House, to intervene directly or indirectly, in any business, transaction, contract or application with the government.”
ystakei Says:
September 12th, 2007 at 7:49 am
PSB,
Kung sa nakaw, you can bet your bottom dollar, walang nanakaw si Erap. In the first place, said ang kaban nang pumasok siya kaya nga para hindi siya mahuli, isa sa promotor ng EDSA 2 si FVR! Hindi nga makautang ang pobre dahil may pre-publicity na siyang kapareho siya ni Ferdinand Marcos dahil sa totoo lang ay Marcos Loyalist siya.
Sabi ko nga, kung may kasalanan ang taong ito, ang kasalanan niya ay bribery. Iyon namang mga asawa niya, ang kasalanan ay sila ang nagbro-broker I think doon sa mga negosyo, etc. inaalok kay Erap ng kung sinu-sinong kurakot. Wala naman actually na ipinag-iba doon sa trabaho ng kamag-anak ng mga naging presidente na ng Pilipinas since the Philippines became independent. Naging tradition na nilalapitan ang mga kamag-anak to be this and that company’s chairman of the board for instance gaya ni Pacifico Marcos noon na Chairman ng
Dapat lang. Surely some pressures were exerted on the justices and it’s a good thing the Supreme Court stood it’s ground, unlike those Sandigangbayan justices, puro bahag ang buntot.
we are lucky, we have puno as cj. imagine kung si davide yan na sumisipsip kay gma para mahita ang juicy post of un rep…
Ellen,
This loop has been hacked!
RE Titser’s “Kung sa nakaw, you can bet your bottom dollar, walang nanakaw si Erap. In the first place, said ang kaban nang pumasok siya kaya nga para hindi siya mahuli, isa sa promotor ng EDSA 2 si FVR! Hindi nga makautang ang pobre dahil may pre-publicity na siyang kapareho siya ni Ferdinand Marcos dahil sa totoo lang ay Marcos Loyalist siya.”
Agree!
Anna,
I was the one who wrote that. The post was hacked!!!
Ah ganoon ba? Zut!
The AdeBrux List [next thread], i believe, is a perpetual draft as similar but more heinous crimes are committed as we speak and will continue as the Nation permits it.
We must beam our radar to what both the Energy Department of 2001 Coup Leader Angie Reyes, and the Arroyo Energy Committee of the Lower House are cooking now.
I am pretty sure it will be a ZTE hundred fold.
__________________________________________________________
Enrile, Angara oppose probe of NBN deal
MANILA, Philippines — Two administration senators on Wednesday said the Senate has no business investigating the national broadband deal (NBN) and the cyber education project (CEP) because there was no binding contract yet on the two projects that are to be funded by loans from the Chinese government.
Tang ina kayong dalawa!
Ohmigosh, umandar na naman itong dalaway galamay ni Gloria…Nampucha naman – dapat sa dalawang iyan ikulong!
anna, may aasahan pa bang maganda sa dalawang uliyanin na ‘yan?
mga henyong utak dapo. kung saan may pakikinabangan ay doon sumasabit upang patuloy silang manatiling buhay!
parasites!
anna,
mas tama palang ilarawang “ulolyanin” ‘yang sina angara at enrile.
What are Abalos, comolek chairman and Mendoza, transportation secretary doing with the broadband deal? Bilib na bilib talaga ako sa “scope” ng kapangyarihan nitong mga alipores ni tiyanak. Kahit hindi nila departamento, pinapasok nila para lang sa pera. Mga buwaya talaga!
Walang binding contract ba ang sabi ng mga ulol-yanin? Eh bakit ang sabi ni Glue ay she or her govt will honor the contract, as in tuloy ito, sa ayaw natin o hindi.
Malala ko ang railroad deal na utang din sa China, na si Devilnecia naman yata ang promotor. Di ba may balitang lutuan rin duon, na sumusingaw ang baho ng kickbacks, sa laki ng dollar deal din na ito? Siguradong may papel rin diyan si little one.
sabi ng SC… i-hold yang deal na yan….paano naman kami..ang lagay……(wala pa !)