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A RANKING Roman Catholic Church official on Friday
vouched for the ‘credibility’ of the new witness in the national
broadband scandal.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar
Cruz believes that the new witness in the scandal would be as
credible as that of former government executive, Rodolfo “Jun”
Lozada Jr.
“Yes . . . I came to know how
far he went. You don’t just go out there and say things that are
not true,” Cruz told reporters.
The Pangasinan prelate, a known
critic of the Arroyo administration, praised the new witness called
“Alex” for his courage in coming out, and saying what he knows
about the botched broadband deal.
The prelate is currently out on
bail from a libel charge that was filed by female government
employees and revived by the Justice department early last month.
“I told you time and time again
that in this country at this age and this time . . . one of the
commandments [now] is thou shall not tell the truth,” Cruz said.
Cruz was among the few members of
the catholic clergy that called for President Gloria Arroyo’s
resignation after her husband’s name was dragged into the
controversy.
At Malacañang, Secretary Ignacio
Bunye said the opposition is making “something out of nothing”
in alleging that President Arroyo is hiding something after she meet
with ZTE officials. That firm is the contractor for the broadband
project.
In a statement, Bunye said the
President was just doing her job of wooing investors when she met
ZTE officials in November 2006.
“The President was doing
exactly what they should be doing—promoting investment in the
Philippines. And to the credit of the President, she was doing it on
her vacation,” he said.
At the House of Representatives,
Malacañang’s allies ganged up on the opposition trying to revive
the broadband issue.
Saying that some opposition
personalities could be suffering from “another episode of
paranoia,” Nueva Ecija Rep. Rodolfo Antonino joined several of his
colleagues in noting that there is nothing wrong with the
President’s meeting with ZTE officials.
Quezon City Reps. Vincent
Crisologo and Annie Susano said that unless there are solid evidence
to prove that the President committed a breach of public trust by
talking with ZTE officials, her critics should desist in feeding the
public with “malicious speculations.”
“People should ignore these
insinuations which have proven nothing so far,” said Susano.
Citing his experience as a
municipal mayor, Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga said it was but natural
for President Arroyo or any other heads of state to visit the
headquarters of a foreign company to make a “sales pitch” for
the country’s benefit.
--Anthony Vargas, Angelo S. Samonte and Sammy Martin
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