Left Flank

Rina bravely admits to a praiseworthy perplexity and skepticism about the constitutional fracas occurring around the NBN-ZTE scandal in The Philippines. I'll join her in that predicament, and, as a non-Filipino, I think I need more help than she does.

ZTE Corp. issued a statement denying allegations by witnesses testifying in a Philippine Senate anti-corruption hearing that a former elections chief and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's husband were promised huge commissions to clear a national broadband contract with the Chinese company.

Both men have denied the accusations, and the deal was scrapped last year. But the scandal and nationally televised hearings have continued, threatening Arroyo's administration with fresh opposition protests and coup rumors.

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Last year, a Filipino businessman who lost to ZTE the bid for the project to link online all government offices told senators the US$330 million (€225 million) ZTE proposal was overpriced by US$130 million (€89 million) to accommodate kickbacks demanded by ex-elections commissioner Benjamin Abalos and the president's husband, Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo.

Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri testified that Abalos offered him a bribe to approve the ZTE proposal, which he refused. Neri stopped short of linking Arroyo or her husband to the scandal.

Last week, Neri's former consultant, Rodolfo Lozada Jr., surfaced in the Senate after claiming he was held for two days by government agents to prevent him from speaking.

He said he discussed the deal with ZTE officials but failed to "moderate the greed" of brokers like Abalos, who last year quit as the elections chief. He also claimed Abalos threatened to kill him if he did not secure a kickback for him.

Obviously, ZTE, and the PRC government, will plead its innocence, and make threatening noises about not spoiling the business environment.

The problem is, that business and constitutional issues are intertwined. On the one hand, there's what actually might have happened between Chinese and Filipino businessmen and the two governments related to broadband companies. But then, because the scandal snared congressional figures, there's the constitutional relationship between Congress and the president. There's also President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's lack of popularity, which doesn't stop her from fighting.

President Arroyo spoke yesterday for the first time about the NBN issue after Lozada's explosive Senate testimony, saying she trusts the impartiality of the Ombudsman in its probe.

«We want to fight corruption.  The Ombudsman, who is constitutionally independent, has announced that she will carry out a review of this issue and the related allegations,» Mrs. Arroyo said in her speech at an economic briefing jointly organized by the Investor Relations Office, the Manila Overseas Press Club, and the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines. Lozada told the Senate last week that her husband and Abalos demanded kickbacks from the ZTE deal.

«We take the ZTE issue very seriously,» Mrs. Arroyo said adding that she «moved quickly to cancel the project as soon as I could after proper consultation with government of China, our biggest export market.»

She said she has instructed Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to investigate the others implicated in the deal who are not within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman. «We do not tolerate corruption,» she said.

«I trust that the Ombudsman will investigate this issue thoroughly and that she will ensure a transparent process in doing so.  I instruct the Secretary of Justice to likewise be thorough and transparent in his investigation,» Mrs. Arroyo said.

The President noted that allegations of corruption «have regularly emerged even in previous administrations as part of our less-than-impressive political culture.»

«I just hope this set of charges will not be a political football,» Mrs. Arroyo said. She said there's no way she could eliminate the «legacy of political corruption» overnight but stressed her administration has achieved great strides in its battle against well-entrenched grafters.

She said fighting corruption is one her administration's major goals.

Even if the NBN-ZTE scandal is like Watergate, Rina, just keep repeating, "Bring It On!" (So, for Rina, a little musical relaxation—more available, but it's in Tagalog)