Press Release
February 15, 2008

PIMENTEL HITS ARROGANCE OF ZTE OFFICIALS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the refusal of China's ZTE corp. to present its side in the $329 million national broadband contract is not contributing to the resolution of the controversy.

Pimentel said the ZTE's continued disregard for the summons issued by the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee only tends to fuel the claims that the deal is overpriced and disadvantageous to the government.

He has urged ZTE chairman Fu Yong and Chinese embassy commercial attach� Fan Yang to testify at the joint hearings of the Senate Blue Ribbon, Defense and Trade and Commerce Committees on the telecoms scandal.

But instead of responding positively to Pimentel's call, the ZTE management declared that it "will not allow itself to be dragged into any political circus."

"ZTE calling the Blue Ribbon Committee hearings a political circus is hubristic. ZTE acts as if were a superpower crushing weak nations in a hegemonic drive," Pimentel said.

"We won't let ZTE arrogance petrify us, Fu and Fan must appear."

He said Fu and Fan must not squander an opportunity to clear things and resolve the controversy in the light of key witness Rodolfo Lozada's revelations that the ZTE-NBN contract was grossly overpriced and that part of the contract price was an alleged $130 million commission of former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos of which about $1 million had allegedly been paid in advance.

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