Manila, November 11: 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 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 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.”
“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 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 Arroyo could be held accountable even “after her term.”
Gordon said 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 Arroyo’s socioeconomic secretary.
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.
Gordon also said 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 NBN project sought to link national agencies with local government units through a high-capacity telecommunications network.
——Agencies