Press Release
February 10, 2009

Gordon: It's about duty, not comfort

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today said that coming up with the preliminary report on the Senate's investigation into the $329-million ZTE-National Broadband Network (NBN) project is a question of duty - and not mere comfort.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee, made the statement in response to Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano's assertion that it is the chairman who should draft the committee report because he enjoys the trust and confidence of the Senate majority.

"This is a question of duty, not comfort. You had presided over 12 hearings, and had a full grasp of the evidence before your lap. It is then your duty to complete the task you have started and not pass the buck of your own responsibility," he said.

Gordon however said he is willing to draft the preliminary report, but stressed that it is still the responsibility of Cayetano, who is the former committee chairman, to do it, having conducted 12 hearings and six technical working groups on the controversy.

"I think Sen. Cayetano should be responsible to make that report because he had 12 continuous hearings and six technical working groups on this regard," he said.

"When you are the chairman, you are totally focused, you are totally concentrated, you watch the comportment or the deportment of the witnesses, you are able to ask the questions, you are able to guide and stir the deliberations so that you know little details that I would not be in a position to do," he added.

According to Gordon, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile argued that if Cayetano insists that the committee should call for another hearing, the former chairman should give a partial report on the 12 hearings it conducted on the NBN-ZTE deal.

After eight hearings in more than two months, meanwhile, Gordon is poised to issue his committee's preliminary report on the P728-million fertilizer project, allegedly orchestrated by former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante..

This does not mean, Gordon explained, that the Senate blue ribbon committee under his watch had closed its probe on the fertilizer fund scam, stressing that he would call for another hearing should there be new evidence and witnesses to warrant it.

Part of the committee's preliminary report Gordon is contemplating are proposed legislative remedial measures aimed at plugging the gaps and loopholes in the country's laws, among them include the Anti-Money Laundering Act and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, the Secrecy of Bank Deposits Act, the Government Procurement Act, and the Omnibus Election Code.

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