JDV backs Senate probe into Southrail

Former speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. expressed support yesterday for the projected Senate investigation into the Chinese government-funded $1-billion Southrail project that would revive the old railway system from Metro Manila to the Bicol region.

In a radio interview, De Venecia said he was among administration officials who convinced the Chinese to finance the project and its counterpart in the north, the Northrail.

“I thank the Chinese government for acceding to our request. But if there are anomalies like kickbacks, it should be investigated so that we can unearth the truth,” the former speaker said.

It was Senate witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. who revealed alleged kickbacks in the Southrail project.

When senators asked the witness about Northrail, Lozada said he knew nothing about it because unlike the Southrail project, he was not involved in it.

A few days after Lozada revealed the alleged $70-million overprice on the Southrail project, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson filed a resolution on Tuesday asking the Senate to investigate the transaction.

He said projects funded by China and other countries have become “excuses for corruption.”

The Senate is also set to investigate the cyber education project, which will be financed through a loan of more than $400 million from China.

Regarding claims made by some pro-administration senators that there was actually no contract for NBN that was awarded to ZTE in April, De Venecia said his understanding was that there was a contract.

“Secretary Leandro Mendoza (of transportation and communications) signed it in Boao, China in April. The President even flew there to witness the signing. If that was not a contract, with no less than the President and top Chinese officials witnessing its signing, I don’t know what it is,” he said.

He said copies of the document signed in Boao were lost but concerned officials were able to reproduce them.

He noted that the public was kept in the dark for months on the NBN-ZTE deal.

DOTC shuns rail projects

Meanwhile, the DOTC has distanced itself from the two multi-billion peso government rail projects in Luzon that will soon be scrutinized by the Senate for overpricing and corruption.

In a press conference last Sunday, Mendoza had declined to answer questions on the Southrail project, saying the DOTC had no involvement in the government’s ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the railway running from Calamba in Laguna to Sorsogon in the Bicol region.

According to Mendoza, the Southrail project was being handled by the Philippine National Railways (PNR), which he said had its own board of directors.

He referred questions on the project to PNR’s long-time general manager, Jose Ma. Sarasola II.

Mendoza, in separate interviews, had also clarified that the DOTC was not in charge of the North Luzon Railway (Northrail) project, saying it was under the control of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).

Sarasola, however, expressed confidence that no irregularities would be found in the proposed rehabilitation of the southern line of the PNR.

He said that at present, the PNR has come up with a rehabilitation plan for the Calamba, Laguna to Lucena City, Quezon province stretch of the railway.

The Calamba to Lucena rehabilitation, involving a 77-kilometer stretch of the railway, would cost $259 million.

Senate star witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. had identified the Southrail project as one of the government projects he was involved in that was also tainted with overpricing and corruption.

Sarasola challenged Lozada’a claim that the Southrail was also overpriced, saying that Lozada had attended only one official meeting on the project.

He added that the Southrail has not even started since it has not yet secured funding.