Tell the truth, Abalos urged

Opposition lawmakers urged Benjamin Abalos yesterday to tell the truth about the national broadband deal following his resignation as chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“Abalos just saved (President Arroyo) from controversy. Abalos saved the queen. This is a victory for our people although it is obviously meant to deny Congress the opportunity to hold him and the others, including the First Couple, accountable for their wrongdoings,” Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said.

“We now challenge Abalos to tell all that he knows. He should not allow himself to be made the President’s fall guy,” Casiño said.

“It’s about time for him to disclose everything so we can address this worsening problem of graft and corruption. We’re sick and tired of selective revelations,” Rep. Joel Villanueva of the Citizens Battle Against Corruption. also said.

There’s no end in sight yet to the troubles of Abalos as senators vowed to dig deeper into the broadband deal.

“Spending hours scrutinizing a transaction is a small price to pay with the end in view of preventing a P16-billion loan from further burdening our people for years,” Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. told Senate officials during the flag-raising ceremony yesterday, marking the start of the week-long celebration of Senate’s 91st anniversary.

“The ZTE deal is a transaction separate from the persona that is Chairman Abalos. With or without his resignation, it must be concluded,” Villar pointed out.

He said the Senate would continue to provide the forum where lawmakers would hope to uncover the truth behind the questionable transaction even it would mean being criticized for “ignoring” legislative work.

Sen. Joker Arroyo earlier lamented the Senate had been spending too much time on investigations to the detriment of other matters that need legislative attention.

“If only to provide the ordinary Filipino a voice and through the senators they elected to office and ask what they wanted to ask their leaders, investigations must go on,” Villar stressed.

“These investigations not only provide the forum to uncover the truth, these are also important in coming out with timely and effective legislation,” he said. “That is why we are actively defending our right in the Supreme Court to continue holding these investigations.”

He also denied that the Senate had been ignoring its legislative duty, saying it was set to approve the bill increasing the retirement benefits of justices and judges. He said the chamber is expected to pass 10 bills before it goes on recess by mid-October.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan also said Abalos’ resignation would not hinder the Senate’s “pursuit of punishing the guilty in the controversial deal.”

“We will continue the hearings, and we hope that he will make himself available despite having resigned should we need him to be present,” Pangilinan said.

Blue Ribbon committee chairman Alan Peter Cayetano also said the hearings would continue.

“We are nowhere close to ending the ZTE/NBN hearing because we’re still in fact-finding stage and then there are so much information we need and the First Gentleman and even the President and some secretaries have not given us any or complete information,” Cayetano said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the Comelec chief’s resignation might be “a tactical maneuver to evade the questions that will be asked of him in an impeachment proceeding.”

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said Abalos resigned out of propriety while Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. regarded Abalos as “a sacrificial lamb” of the administration.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, defense committee chair, said the resignation of Abalos probably had already pulled the rug from under those who wanted him impeached.

“Remember that the basic objective of impeachment is removal from office so if he resigned, the move for impeachment has become moot and academic,” Biazon said.

Sen. Francis Escudero said Abalos’ resignation would enable him to defend himself without affecting the functions of the Comelec.

Sen. Mar Roxas also called on President Arroyo to create a “high level commission composed of men and women of known probity and independence that will look into every facet of the ZTE deal.”

“He has decided to separate his personal battles from his duties as a government official,” Sen. Noynoy Aquino said.

“His abdication will significantly help to lessen the possibility of inflicting more damage to the Comelec, which has already been marred consistently with controversies such as the MegaPacific deal and the questionable conduct of the 2004 and 2007 national elections,” Aquino added.

But Biazon said resignation “may not relieve anyone from any possibility of anyone filing a case in court especially with the Ombudsman.”

“The fact the a person resigned is already a victory on the party pursuing the case,” he said.

“Now for him to totally clear his name or for him to be convicted is up to the prosecutorial arm – Ombudsman or the DOJ,” Cayetano said.

Tell all

Abalos’ resignation was “a proof of the strength of the impeachment complaint,” according to Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.

“The impeachment has become moot and academic, but we will still hold Abalos accountable. Akbayan’s legal team is studying the charges that Abalos should face before our legal system,” the party-list congresswoman said.

Her former colleague, Akbayan chairman emeritus Etta Rosales, also lauded Abalos’ decision, but warned that this “could open a Pandora’s box” in the government.

“His resignation means that he’s free to tell everything – from the ZTE controversy to electoral fraud cases in 2004 and 2007,” she said.

Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, the designated spokesman for the minority bloc, pointed out that while the resignation “killed the impeachment process,” Abalos “can now be a subject of a criminal complaint.”

United Opposition head and Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay praised Abalos for his decision but stressed that his decision “does not erase possible administrative and criminal liabilities.”

“The search for the truth behind the ZTE scandal should be pursued and should not end with Chairman Abalos,” Binay stressed.

“For the past few days, word has been spreading around from reliable sources that Chairman Abalos will be made a scapegoat in order to contain the political fallout from the ZTE scandal. The objective is to keep the scandal from reaching the level of Mrs. Arroyo. His resignation tends to lend credence to such a scenario,” he added.

“The circumstances surrounding his resignation, however, are not exactly the best one could hope for. And again, I am certain that Chairman Abalos would rather look forward to a positive judgment from history,” Binay pointed out.

Answered prayers

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said the resignation of Abalos was an “answered prayer.”

“Thank God Mr. Abalos responded to our prayer… The best decision that Mr. Abalos has done is to resign amid threats of impeachment. It was a short cut. Thank you, Mr. Abalos, for your decision,” CBCP president Angel Lagdameo said in a statement.

The CBCP head said the bishops are hopeful the resignation of Abalos would pave the way for genuine reform in the Comelec.

“In other countries, like Japan, when high officials are accused of graft and corruption, they do not wait for any conviction to be pronounced, they simply volunteer to resign. May what Mr. Abalos has done be an example to others for the greater good of the country,” he said.

But another prominent CBCP official, Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez Jr., said Abalos was just a “sacrificial lamb” of the administration.

“This seems to me is an admission – perhaps that he has done something wrong. It’s possible that he is a sacrificial lamb as they say,” the prelate told The STAR.

“In the heat of the controversy and reports, I thought he made the right decision. But this should not stop the inquiry,” he said.

Poll watchdog group Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting said it was relieved to learn of Abalos’ resignation.

“His resignation is best for the nation, particularly for Comelec. Now Comelec can go ahead doing what it is supposed to do which is conduct clean and credible elections,” PPCRV head Henrietta de Villa said. 

“We don’t think the public will be contented with his resignation. We appeal to the Senate and our anti-graft bodies not to lose focus on their investigation of the NBN project,” Amsterdam Holdings Inc. lawyer Marinelle O’Santos said. “We will continue to work so that this illegal and onerous contract is rescinded.” – with Delon Porcalla, Edu Punay, Ronilo Pamonag