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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
SEN. Panfilo Lacson on Sunday rapped Sen. Alan
Peter Cayetano for declaring that he would come out with a report on
the aborted $329-million national broadband network (NBN) scandal
even before members of the Senate blue ribbon committee could meet and
discuss the matter.
“The procedure I know is that a committee will
meet to discuss a report, but there has been no such meeting. The
chairman is not the committee. A committee includes members. The NBN
is a sensitive issue that should be discussed by the entire
committee,” Lacson said in a radio interview over dzBB.
Cayetano had already clarified that he might
come out with a preliminary report within two weeks, not a final
report, which would mean the investigation had already been
concluded.
Meanwhile, Lacson stressed that he would block
any final report during this stage of the committee investigation.
“Before, I did not give much attention to
committee reports because then, their impacts were not as strong as
this one (on NBN),” he explained.
Lacson also expressed impatience that Cayetano,
chairman of the blue ribbon, has not conducted any hearing on the
NBN deal with ZTE, China’s biggest telecommunications firm, while
the Senate appeal of the Supreme Court ruling on the case of former
Secretary Romulo Neri is pending.
He said that the blue ribbon has a pending
subpoena for Ruben Reyes, an alleged member of the Filipino group
led by former Commissions on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos,
that had reportedly facilitated the awarding of the NBN contract to
ZTE.
“We have done nothing. We have pending
subpoenas and we can compel Ruben Reyes to testify. Why is he not
being summoned? If he does not want to appear, we have the power to
cite him in contempt,” Lacson said.
He criticized the conduct of the NBN
investigation as one that seems to be waiting for raindrops.
“We could also ask former Speaker Jose de
Venecia and officials of ZTE [to testify]. The Supreme Court is not
yet over and it is possible that it might approve our motion for
reconsideration,” he said.
The Senate has appealed the SC ruling that the
Senate could not compel Neri to testify and that it erred in
conducting investigations in aid of legislation without first
publishing its rules.
The Senate panel of lawyers is expected to
submit additional arguments this Monday, and the high tribunal’s
decision on the appeal might come out within two weeks.
“If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the
Senate, that, in effect, orders the Senate to resolve the issue. If
we will not continue with the public hearings on NBN despite
favorable SC ruling, we will be remiss in our duties and it would
obviously appear that Malacañang had talked with us on this,”
Lacson said.
He had earlier expressed disapproval of
Cayetano’s statement that was taken to mean there was no direct
evidence linking President Arroyo to the NBN deal. Malacañang and
its supporters had since capitalized on this statement to downplay
any presidential complicity and involvement in the controversial
national broadband deal.
Lacson said that he believes Cayetano’s
statement meant there was no direct testimony, not direct evidence,
linking Malacañang to the broadband deal.
“That’s what happens when one speaks without
carefully weighing one’s words,” he said.
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