Joker says inquiry into Southrail project can wait

MANILA, Philippines – Administration Sen. Joker Arroyo reiterated yesterday the need for the Senate to wrap up its probe first on the Northrail Project before pushing for the investigation of the alleged $70-million overcharge in the $932-million Southrail project.

“I would oppose an investigation of the $70-million overprice in the Southrail project unless the Senate would first dispose of its investigation of the gargantuan $500-million loan for the Northrail which it had already completed and all that remains is to make the committee report. Otherwise, this will be one of those investigations without a committee report,” Arroyo said.

Arroyo noted that the Northrail project was heard by the entire Senate during the 13th Congress which constituted itself as a Committee of the Whole.

“The $500-million Northrail project is worth P20 billion. It involves 38 kilometers, from Caloocan to Malolos. In round figures, the government will spend an astronomic P500 million for each kilometer!” Arroyo said.

Last Feb. 12, Sen. Panfilo Lacson filed a resolution seeking to investigate the $70-million overprice in the Southrail project, while Sen. Manuel Roxas II also called for a probe.

During his first testimony last Feb. 9, resigned Philippine Forest Corp. president and chief executive officer Rodolfo Lozada Jr., who had also testified that the national broadband network’s project cost was bloated to accommodate kickbacks for those who brokered the deal, said there was also an overprice in the Southrail project.

Meanwhile, Lozada maintained yesterday that Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri has so much more to offer to the people if only he would break his silence, not just on the NBN deal and the SouthRail project but on the Cyber Education project.

In an interview in his safehouse, Lozada expressed dismay that Neri was being selective on what he could disclose with regard the two controversial projects funded by the Chinese government.

Lozada said the people must not buy Neri’s statements that he should not be given much importance because he had no more explosive information.

“He knows much more than I do. The problem is he thinks he can still tilt the balance,” Lozada said.

Lozada said Neri and some Chinese businessmen were involved in the negotiations on the CyberEd project. The project is worth $465.5 million and will cover 23,549 public schools nationwide and 665 Alternative Learning System centers.

Neri had told a Senate hearing last September that then Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos brokered for the NBN deal and offered him P200 million bribe in exchange for the approval of the project. Abalos had resigned over the controversy.

Lozada said Neri and the others who could testify on what they knew about controversial deals must come out now.

“The people who know the truth must not be afraid to come out. It maybe difficult but I’m sure the truth will defend them,” Lozada said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson also said he could not understand why Neri would not seize such a “defining moment.”

Lacson said he could personally attest that Neri could have something more to reveal as regards the NBN deal.

“I pity him but at the same time I am disgusted because he portrays himself to be righteous, that he had a renaissance, he is a reformist. Show us your being reformist,” Lacson said.

Lacson had met with Neri, Lozada and Sen. Jamby Madrigal in December and talked about the NBN project overpricing.

Lacson confirmed the meeting at the Duets Bistro of the Asian Institute Management in Makati City but refused to divulge the details, saying they had an agreement that such  “meeting never happened.”

Neri, who used to teach at AIM, is a regular visitor of the small diner that serves mostly students of AIM and residents of the hotel. Lozada reportedly helped arrange the meeting, where he also reportedly shared his knowledge about the details that led to the signing of the NBN deal with ZTE Corp. of China. – With Aurea Calica