ROXAS ON ZTE DEAL - "JUST SAY NO!"

Senator Mar Roxas strongly urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to cancel the agreement between the Philippines and China through the ZTE Corp. for a national broadband network (NBN) project to be covered by a foreign loan amounting to $329-M.

"Just say No, Mrs. President!" Roxas said, pointing out that since the loan has not been obtained, the Philippines can still back out of the deal. He said the ZTE broadband deal was an apparent attempt by unscrupulous power-wielders to take advantage of the people's lack of familiarity with new technology to earn millions in commissions.

The chairman of the Senate committee on trade & commerce said that while he welcomes the overdue participation of government executives in today's Senate joint hearing, the legitimacy of the ZTE broadband deal would still be questionable because the idea behind the project is flawed.

Roxas, a co-chair of the Senate's joint hearing on the NBN project, said aside from the scandals and controversies attached to it, the ZTE broadband deal also fails on three counts:

1. No urgent need for a national broadband network;

2. Lack of information on what the government is buying; and

3. Insufficient studies and disregard of proper bidding procedures.

On the first count, Roxas said, "Is there an urgent need for a national broadband? This project is analogous to the government saying 'Dahil mahal ang airfare, bumili na lang tayo ng eroplano,' or 'Dahil mahal ang biyahe papuntang norte, magpagawa na lang tayo ng sariling NLEX, pero para sa gobyerno lang'."

"This is a project in search of rationalization. Hindi nagsimula ang proyektong ito base sa tunay na pangangailangan ng bansa. At kahit kailangan nga ito, ito ba ay ang unang prioridad natin, o panlimang prioridad?" he added.

On the second count, the Senator said, "A national broadband project that not even the private sector is familiar with, to be operated by government which is admittedly technology-challenged, at an excessive price to be paid out of a foreign loan that no Filipino wants to be saddled with."

Lastly, Roxas noted how testimonies last Tuesday indicated that procedures for bidding were not followed, and that the people have been kept in the dark on the details of the project. "Without the proper requirements for bidding, the contract could not come to a close," he stressed.

The Senator expressed disappointment that the people's desire for modernity appeared to be used as an excuse to commit graft and corruption.

"It's like government spending people's money to buy for their own use a high-definition, state-of-the art television set rather than setting aside this same amount to provide schools and classrooms with basic computers and even just an ordinary colored TV," Roxas added.

He also likened the broadband deal to government officials buying PDAs when schoolchildren do not even have pencils to write with.

"Based on the provisions of the supply contract alone, it is obvious that this multi-million dollar contract was driven by supply and not demand, for short-term personal gain, and not for the people's long-term benefit," Roxas said.

Roxas said canceling the contract will not result in any serious impairment of our diplomatic relations with China and will actually demonstrate the shared desire of both countries to serve the paramount interest of the Filipino people.

The Liberal Party stalwart stressed that creating and maintaining a national broadband network is not the core competence of government and is best left to the private sector in line with the national policy of privatization and boosting the telecommunications sector.

He also cited security implications in having a foreign company involved in designing, engineering and installing a national broadband network where vital information related to economic, social, political and defense aspects of governance shall flow, and be contained.

Roxas noted that the overpriced contract is about a year's worth of EVAT revenues arising from a 12% rate, up from the previous 10%, or about P15 billion. Under this agreement, every Filipino would shoulder a huge 20-year loan for a project that may become obsolete in less than two years.

"This project is not critically important. It is overpriced and failed to go through the standard bidding process. The people have said No to this. The Senate is against it. The Supreme Court has issued a TRO against it. Mrs. President, there is nothing honorable about this contract. The time has come for you to simply just say No!"