Lichauco: No overpricing in b'gay phone program

Former Undersecretary for Communications Josefina Lichauco asserted yesterday that the unit price of public calling offices (PCOs) under the Telepono sa Barangay (TSB) program remained the same before and after its renegotiation, as she denied charges that it was overpriced.

Appearing for the second time before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, Lichauco lamented that she had been maligned over the program which President Estrada has scrapped.

It was charged that renegotiation of some of the TSB contracts under the Estrada administration resulted in the reduction of unit costs of PCOs from $83,974 to $23,734 in the case of Alcatel, and from $49,494 to $24,309 in the Lucent contract.

"Just because the present renegotiations doubled the number of lines within the same budget cannot support the assertion of overprice. The unit prices have remained the same for the original and renegotiated contracts," she told the committee headed by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

She argued that the unit cost could not be arrived at by simply getting the total cost and dividing it by the number of lines.

"What was radically altered was the concept of installing convergence-ready telecenters to service clusters of barangays. Instead, what are to be installed now are plain old telephone systems," Lichauco said.

She charged that the number of barangays was drastically increased "for window dressing's sake," and that Undersecretary Willie Evangelista of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is using the "malicious charge of overprice to ensure that the 10 new contracts will be approved and implemented."

At the same time, Lichauco stressed that it was not she but the late Transportation and Communications Secretary Arturo Enrile who created the technical working and negotiating committees for the TSB's implementation.

She said all technical evaluations and negotiations were finished before Enrile died on Jan. 14, 1998. She said Enrile approved Phase 1 of the program, while she approved Phases 2 and 3 "conditionally."

She said it was already under the Estrada administration that the TSB program was expanded by entering into 10 more contracts and memorandum of agreements with different contractors.

She stressed that this should not have been done since some private entities had already formally indicated their willingness to implement the program.

She cited Republic Act 7925 as providing that the engine of sector growth should be the private sector, and RA 6849 which created the Municipal Telephone Project Office, for providing that the private sector should have the right of first refusal.

"The violation of public policy and law alleged by a Malacañang official occurred under the Estrada administration and not under the Ramos administration," Lichauco said.