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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
Sen. Joker Arroyo gave notice on Friday that he
would oppose any investigation of the Southrail project while there
is no report on the Senate inquiry into the $500-million Northrail
project.
In a press statement, Arroyo said that the
Senate should first dispose of its investigation of the
“gargantuan” $500-million loan for the Northrail project before
it conducts an investigation of the alleged $70-million overprice of
the Southrail project.
“First things first. Bigger ones first,” he
said.
He noted that the Senate had already completed
its inquiry into the Northrail project and all that remains is to
make the committee report. The inquiry was conducted during the 13th
Congress by the Senate which constituted itself into the committee
of the whole.
However, the probe ran into a blank wall when
President Gloria Arroyo issued Executive Order 464 that prevented
executive officials from testifying before the Senate without Malacañang’s
permission. The minutes of the inquiry had been consigned to the
Senate archives.
The Northrail project covers 38 kilometers, from
Caloocan to Malolos. In round figures, the government will
spend an astronomic “P500 million for each kilometer,” Arroyo
said in explaining why the Northrail committee report should be
finished first before starting any inquiry into the Southrail
project.
Broadband witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. said at the
Senate investigation into the $329-million broadband deal that the
Southrail project was one of the projects whose cost had gone up
because of graft. He said that the Southrail project was one of the
three projects that he handled. The other two are the broadband and
the Philippine Postal projects. He cleared the latter project of any
anomaly.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson has filed a resolution
seeking an inquiry by the Senate blue-ribbon committee into
Lozada’s allegations. He clarified that the $70 million does not
pertain to the total cost of the project, which is $932 million, but
the alleged overprice in the project’s first phase.
The Southrail, with a total cost of $932
million, was meant to rehabilitate the railway from Manila to Bicol.
The first phase involves the 423-kilometer stretch from Calamba,
Laguna to Legazpi City costing $627.8 million and Phase 2, the new
135-km railway line from Legazpi City to Sorsogon costing $304.2
million. Like the $329-million broadband project, the Southrail will
be funded by loans from the Export-Import Bank of China.
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