ON MALACANANG'S SUSPENSION OF THE ZTE DEAL

"From the beginning of this dubious contract, I said that the government must rescind the ZTE Broadband deal, lest it becomes another NAIA3, where the structure is there but it is not operational because of legal battles due to irregularities. The government shouldn't just suspend ZTE, it must rescind the contract once and for all. If President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo suspended the ZTE contract, will this mean that the Filipino taxpayer's money will not be exploited by this questionable deal anymore? Will this mean that those who compromised transparency and those who did not follow the standard procedures in this transaction will be reprimanded? Or will this merely be a move to pacify the noise of the controversy?"

"The Senate investigation has yielded so many revelations worth looking into, and we will not stop our pursuit of the truth. We cannot allow grand-scale dealings such as this to be concealed from the public, and we will hold accountable our officials who enter into anomalous transactions. Suspending the contract will not turn the problem around, nor prevent a repeat of this controversy. We all know this, and we will see this investigation through, so that if any good should come out of this grave controversy, it is the lesson that we will not tolerate irregularities in public service. For all intents and purposes the ZTE contract is suspended because the Supreme Court has issued a restraining order in the implementation of the contract. The decision therefore should be to rescind the contract and not to merely suspend it as it has already been legally suspended by the Supreme Court restraining order."