Press Release
September 26, 2007

ROXAS - APPROVAL PROCESS MERITS REVIEW

Senator Mar Roxas chided executive officials for not following a clear process in the approval of public-funded projects, particularly the National Broadband Network project.

"After hearing the testimonies of Cabinet members, I am alarmed at how nobody is taking responsibility for approval of a project whose scope falls under several agencies, thus requiring a coordinated approach to policy design and implementation," said Roxas, chairman of the Senate committee on trade & commerce jointly hearing the Senate probe on the NBN deal.

"How did we get this far that $330 million is going to be borrowed? How did we get this far that we now have Senate hearings? Hindi naman maaari na isang secretary lang ay lumakbay ng ganitong kalayo, na mag-commit, na pumirma ng ganitong kalaking halaga, na walang mga checks and balances o walang mga approvals along the way," the Senator said at today's hearing.

He lamented that even the Government Procurement Policy Board would not claim jurisdiction over the NBN deal, on the basis of the project being an 'executive agreement.'

"Ang 'P' sa GPPB ay Procurement at Policy. Ngunit ayon kay Budget Secretary Nonoy Andaya, hindi sakop ng board ang broadband project. Ang maaaring gawin ng gobyerno ay linawin ang mandato ng GPPB," Roxas suggested.

"Yun naman po sa NEDA, maaari din na ang NEDA ang maging mas masigasig ng magsabi, 'sandali lang, bago tayo umandar rito, tignan muna natin ito, kase labag ito sa patakaran'," he added.

Roxas reiterated his position that all documents pertaining to the broadband deal be made accessible to the public. He said this in reaction to the request of ZTE for confidentiality of the documents they will be submitting to the Senate joint committee.

"This project is a public concern, paid with public funds, and these documents are of public record, which should not be restricted from public access," Roxas said.

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