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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
Senate Majority Leader Francis
Pangilinan on Friday rapped ZTE Corp. for saying it will not allow
itself to be dragged into a “political circus,” referring to the
ongoing probe into the national broadband project.
ZTE is the Chinese firm that was
awarded the $330-million national broadband project but that was
later scrapped by President Gloria Arroyo after charges of
corruption were made public.
“The Philippine Senate cannot
and will not be cowed by threats or hardball tactics coming from
persons or foreign or local corporations, ZTE included,”
Pangilinan said.
“We warn all those who refuse
without justifiable grounds to cooperate with the Senate as it
conducts its hearings in aid of legislation that we will not
hesitate to exercise our constitutional powers in order to fulfill
our constitutional responsibilities,” he added.
Testimonies about millions of
dollars in alleged bribes and charges of influence peddling during
the Senate probe have triggered a public outcry.
Witnesses have implicated the
President’s husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, and former
Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
They denied the allegations.
ZTE executives, meanwhile, have
ignored three invitations to testify before the Senate blue-ribbon
committee, the lead panel in the probe.
Pangilinan expressed displeasure
at ZTE’s refusal to cooperate. “We will not hesitate to have
persons arrested, whether foreigners or locals if the same becomes
necessary,” he said.
The Office of the Ombudsman has
ordered an investigation. Recently, President Arroyo also ordered
the Department of Justice to do the same and go after other
personalities who are beyond the reach of the Ombudsman, who can
only prosecute government officials.
ZTE statement
In a statement Thursday, ZTE said
it “will not take lightly its continuing vilification by some
quarters before the Philippine media,” adding it reserves “the
right to seek redress of grievance before all appropriate juridical
bodies for the witting or unwitting dragging of the good name of ZTE
Corp. into sordid but unsubstantiated tales of corruption and
briberies.”
The Chinese firm denied the
broadband project was overpriced, saying it had neither done
anything wrong nor bribed anyone to get the project.
ZTE said it has been serving more
than 500 telecommunication operators in over 120 countries and has
completed or is in the process of completing billions of dollars
worth of telecommunication projects worldwide.
“The ZTE NBN proposal stands on
its own merit as sufficiently and ably defended by the DOTC
[Department of Transportation and Communications] before the
investigation of the Senate blue-ribbon committee,” the statement
said. “As to the Senate’s summon for ZTE to appear in the
hearing, ZTE cannot allow itself to be dragged into any political
circus.”
The Senate inquiry is turning
foreign investors away from the Philippines and damaging bilateral
Philippine-Chinese trade relations, the statement added.
In 2007, China has surpassed the
United States as the biggest trading partner of the Philippines.
Bilateral trade between China and the Philippines has exceeded $30
billion, with the balance of trade favoring Filipinos.
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