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Have the news media—like the opposition-dominated Senate and civil
society—become afflicted with selective perception? Have the
newspapers and networks, whose reporters are closely following the
NBN-ZTE controversy, decided to pick up and report only those bits
of information that seem to confirm the guilt of the so-called
Greedy Group—and nothing else?
Opposition senator and presidential wannabe
Panfilo Lacson arranged for the appearance of telecommunications
expert Leo San Miguel at the Blue-Ribbon hearing on Tuesday.
However, as virtually all the papers bannered the next day, the
surprise witness ended up surprising Lacson himself, along with his
nonplussed colleagues.
The senators had expected San Miguel to confirm
the allegations earlier made by Jose de Venecia 3rd, Rodolfo Lozada
Jr. and Dante Madriaga who all claim that the contract for the
National Broadband Network was awarded to China’s Zhong Xing—pronounced
as Jong Tsing—Telecommunications Equipment Co. Ltd. (ZTE) on the
basis of multimillion-dollar kickbacks to persons closely identified
with President Arroyo.
Instead, San Miguel consistently
testified—despite severe pressure from badgering senators who
called him “liar” to his face again and again—that he had no
direct knowledge of the ZTE “commissions,” which allegedly went
or was promised to the Greedy Group consisting of former Comelec
Chairman Benjamin Abalos, San Miguel and several others.
Last Monday’s hearing, lasting some 12 hours,
was yet another marathon session. The dailies and networks reported
how San Miguel was grilled, how de Venecia 3rd, Lozada and Madriaga
disputed his insistence that he had no first-hand knowledge of the
alleged kickbacks—and even rehashed info on how the contract price
ballooned purportedly because of a $130-million commission.
Yet, when it finally came for San Miguel to
reveal what he knows of the de Venecias’ and Lozada’s
participation in the deal, most of the media suddenly turned deaf
and blind.
PDI article
I subscribe to five newspapers and regularly
scan the websites of the other dailies and networks. Only the
Philippine Daily Inquirer seems to have carried a report on San
Miguel’s disclosure. Interestingly, it was buried in the 10th
paragraph of an article headlined, “Coming soon at the Senate: War
of wiretap tapes,” bylined Gil C. Cabacungan and published on page
A17.
Cabacungan’s report, which was not reflected
on PDI’s website, read in part:
“Yesterday’s main witness, Leo San Miguel,
claimed that former House Speaker Jose de Venecia had lobbied for
his son’s company to be included in the NBN contract even though
it had already been awarded to ZTE Corp.
“In a meeting at the former Speaker’s
mansion at Forbes Park, the elder de Venecia strongly urged Abalos’
group to find a way to include his son in the NBN contract. ‘You
know boys, let us not forget my son, let us work together,’ said
San Miguel quoting the Speaker.
“San Miguel said he was tasked to find a way
for de Venecia’s Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI) to piggyback on the
NBN by distributing some of the areas to the Speaker’s son through
geographical distribution of the equipment.
“San Miguel said AHI’s entry into NBN was
the reason why Joey de Venecia and the Abalos group flew to China to
discuss AHI’s entry into the deal.
“San Miguel also accused Lozada of brokering
for the interest of AHI claiming that the star witness was not hired
for the technical aspects of the deal but for financial
considerations, specifically AHI’s entry into NBN.”
Criminal liability
The law expressly forbids the relatives of
ranking government officials from participating in any government
contract. However, the de Venecias have thus far eluded criminal
liability for their bid to get a piece of the action, as it were,
from the NBN-ZTE deal.
To use Lacson’s favorite phrase, fair is fair.
The testimonies extracted by the Blue-Ribbon inquiry from the
senator’s “resource persons” tend to indicate wrongdoing by
the Greedy Group—and even by the President and her husband.
However, given San Miguel’s voluntary disclosure last Monday,
shouldn’t the inquisitors at the Senate also focus on the
culpability of the de Venecias?
Unfortunately, the public will probably never
get a chance to see how the senators respond to San Miguel’s
revelation about the former speaker and his son.
The senators suspended their NBN-ZTE inquiry
late Tuesday but failed to set the next hearing date. Are they
finally beginning to show symptoms of investigation fatigue—or is
it a case of “once burned, twice shy”?
Electric shock, as in kuryente, can do that to
anyone.
mlatimes@gmail.com
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