BLUE RIBBON REPORT ON NBN-ZTE NOT YET FINAL -- PIMENTEL

Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the Senate blue ribbon committee report on the national broadband network-ZTE scandal is not yet final and still subject to revision by members of the committee.

Pimentel said that although he and other senators signed the investigation report submitted by Sen. Richard Gordon, they do not agree with certain portions and will move to amend them when the report is taken up during the plenary session of the chamber.

"The report of the committee is just a draft report until it is approved by the whole Senate. So it will still be debated, amended and approved before you can say it is the final, official report," he said.

Pimentel strongly disagreed with the recommendation in the draft report to include two "whistle-blowers" - engineer Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada and businessman Jose de Venecia III - among the personalities who should be criminally prosecuted for their involvement in the fraudulent deal.

Considering that most senators - from both the majority and minority blocs - believe that Lozada and De Venecia should be spared from prosecution and treated as state witnesses, the minority leader said he expects this contentious portion of the report to be modified and their names stricken out from the list of indictable individuals.

"It is not correct to treat them in the same category as the personalities who conspired to pursue the $329 million NBN-ZTE contract that was found to be grossly overpriced and manifestly disadvantageous to the government. In my view, they should be treated as state witnesses," he said.

The senator from Mindanao warned that the recommendation to prosecute Lozada and De Venecia, unless rectified and overturned, would have dangerous implications in terms of discouraging future witnesses from coming forward and testifying in legislative inquiries.

"Such recommendation is patently unfair and unjustified considering that without the testimonies of Messrs. Lozada and De Venecia, the blue ribbon committee would not have unearthed the details of the telecommunications scam and the blue ribbon committee would have faced a blank wall in its inquiry, Pimentel said.

"Moreover, the two key witnesses risked their lives and made a lot of personal sacrifices by spilling the beans on the scandal, and in the eyes of the public they deserve to be complimented rather than to be crucified."

Pimentel said the senators would like the report to be more specific on what were the offenses and violations the Constitution and laws committed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to warrant the filing of criminal charges or impeachment complaint against her.

The report merely says that "the President has lots to answer for." It also states:

"In the middle of it all was a President who was unable to control and discipline her own men as they fought over their kickbacks. She kept her silence in the midst of the corruption-acquiescing and condoning the deed. The facts pointing to her may not be total, but the stink is perceived to have reached her office."

The report also says that the Ombudsman was wrong in merely dismissing the case against the President on the mere pretext of presidential immunity from suit. "The Ombudsman must make a finding and forward it to the House of Representatives."

Pimentel said he fully supports the move of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to submit a separate minority report that will dissent from and concur with certain portions of the report.