STATEMENT OF SENATOR MAR ROXAS
ON THE SUSPENSION OF ZTE

"I strongly recommend cancelling the contract altogether. This is not our priority and of limited use only, exclusively for government. It's not transparent, thus possibly overpriced, overdesigned. I know that our friendship and historic ties with China are strong enough to withstand and overcome this controversy."

"The Palace decision will not impair or derail our hearings because these are held in aid of legislation so that such odious transactions will not happen again. As co-chair of these joint hearings, I will still press for the submission of annexes of the contract so we can scrutinize the nuts and bolts of this agreement. We also need to hear the side of Chairman Abalos and other cabinet officials who publicly expressed willingness to attend the forthcoming hearings. Our people deserve nothing less than a full explanation of all these matters."