Arroyo staying neutral in telecom row

The government remains neutral in international business transactions and President Arroyo’s defense of the rights of the 30 Filipino executives who were harassed in Hawaii had nothing to do with the dispute between Philippine and American telecommunication firms, Malacañang announced yesterday.

"The President’s defending the Filipino telecom executives who were harassed in Hawaii has nothing to do with the so-called war between US and Filipino telecom companies, which properly lies with the courts," said Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

"What the President wants is for the US government to respect the dignity and rights of our citizens like the way the Philippine government respects Americans and other foreign nationals in our country," he said.

Bunye said this in the wake of the President’s sternly worded statement Tuesday seeking an explanation from the US government of the alleged harassment incident in Honolulu.

The US Justice Departmentis investigating the rate dispute between Philippine telecom companies, such as the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Globe Telecoms, Smart Communications, Digitel, Bayantel and Subic Telecom — all of which provide long distance telephone services to US carriers such as AT&T.

In March last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered US carriers not to settle their dues with Philippine carriers unless a price rollback for their termination rate is implemented.

Termination rates are the fees Philippine carriers charge their US counterparts for terminating calls to the Philippines through their gateways.

Increases in the termination fee were implemented by Philippine carriers for calls from the US to landlines from eight to 12 cents per minute, while the local carriers also implemented a termination fee hike of 12 to 16 cents per minute for calls made to mobile phone networks.

Bunye insisted the US government should apologize to the 30 Filipino telecom executives.

"It is but appropriate, I think. The US government owes an explanation and an apology to our business executives because these issues on the telecom question have already been resolved here," he said.

Bunye said the President first demanded a full explanation of the incident right after officials of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) served subpoenas on the 30 Filipino telecom firm executives who were attending a business conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"There could have been more deference to the long-standing goodwill and relations between the Philippines and the US," he said. "The President feels strongly about the incident because our telecom executives were harassed and embarrassed in Hawaii in front of their foreign counterparts."

The subpoenas summoned the executives a grand jury investigation on the executives suspected violation of US anti-trust laws.

"We are not questioning the powers of the US DOJ, but we are disappointed at the manner and timing of the serving of the summons in this particular case," Bunye said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Albert immediately summoned US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone to express the Philippine government’s dismay over the incident.

Before Ricciardone could formally address Albert’s summons, the US State Department recalled Ricciardone to Washington for a temporary reassignment to the home office.

Both the Palace and the US Embassy in Manila said Ricciardone’s recall was not spurred by the incident.

Bunye said the Honolulu incident was also unrelated to the unceremonious sacking of National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) chief Armi Jane Borje, who was replaced by Ronald Olivar Solis.