'Arroyo gov't stricken with the Bedol Syndrome'
Pia supports deeper probe into 'stolen'
broadband contract with Chinese firm

Senator Pia S. Cayetano today supported calls for a congressional investigation into the $330-million broadband deal between the Philippines and China after government officials claimed that the original copy of the contract had been lost to thieves amid demands by business groups to have the controversial deal reviewed and nullified.

"Instead of squarely facing questions on the integrity of the deal and the irregularities that reportedly marked the bidding process, the government is now making up an incredible story about how the original contract was supposedly 'stolen' in a hotel room shortly after the same was signed two months ago in China," Cayetano said of the National Broadband Network (NBN) project that the government recently granted to the Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

"Do they really expect Filipinos to buy this tale? The audacity of the government to make incredulous claims is getting worse by the day, one blunder after another."

"It's as if the entire Arroyo government is now stricken by the Bedol Syndrome," added the lady senator, in reference to Lintang Bedol, the provincial election officer of Maguindanao who also came under fire after claiming he had lost the original copies of the certificates of canvass in his custody.

"The government is mistaken when it assumes that the public can easily be swayed by its underhanded tactics. Filipinos are not dumb; they can distinguish between facts and lies. The result of the senatorial elections, which showed opposition bets dominating the top twelve, is clearly an indictment of the present administration."

She also commented on the impact of the stolen contract incident on investor confidence in the country.

"The Executive has always been quick to lash out at its critics, accusing them of derailing the gains of the economy under President Arroyo's watch? But how do they think will investors take this latest monumental embarrassment of their own doing?"

"This is the real legacy that the Arroyo government appears to be priming people for in 2010: a trail of missing CoCs and a bilateral agreement, and unresolved killings of activists and journalists." she concluded.