Will Davide give the two hotheads a real spanking?

Yesterday, Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. dispatched a stern memo to Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena and Third Division Chairman Justice Anacleto Badoy telling the two, in effect, to shut up.

The two "warring" magistrates were also summoned to report to the Office of the Chief Justice next Saturday. I presume the two will be given a lecture on judicial propriety and ethics.

Those two, indeed, deserve a spanking. No matter who’s right or who’s wrong, the acrimonious exchange of accusations has demeaned our justice system, which in any event is already badly regarded by an increasingly cynical public. Will they really be administered a spanking?

I’m tempted to make the usual remark, "only in the Philippines", but I may have overlooked some African countries, not to mention Latin America. It’s a cruel world and a silly one at the same time.

It was a sad spectacle the other day to watch Badoy and Garchitorena being interviewed by the popular ABS-CBN newscaster Korina Sanchez. If Korina was the referee (also mischievous interlocutor), the two "Your Honors" appeared like pugilists, trading blows in their debate. Evidently riding on this "word war" between the two Sandiganbayan eminences were lawyers Leonardo de Vera and Raymund Fortun who ventured their own wise-guy opinions on TV yesterday afternoon. They "expertly" suggested that the two quarreling magistrates should be investigated by the Supreme Court.

Susmariosep, we have become a nation of grandstanders, with members of the judiciary, lawyers, politicians and police investigators taking advantage of every opportunity to get into print, or go on radio and TV, in an effort to gain pogi points in media and, thereby, with the general public.

Now, even though the judiciary is supposed to be independent and co-equal with the legislative branch of government, Rep. Raul Gonzales of Iloilo is proposing that the Garchitorena-Badoy dust-up be the subject of an inquiry by the House of Representatives.

Have we all gone mad? Or crazy for publicity?

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It’s the Sual plant again whose breakdown triggered off that terrible brownout last Sunday, contributing, for that matter, to another foolish wave of cuckoo coup rumors. After the investigation, will the jellyfish be blamed once again or will the government admit that its own jellyfish policies are to blame?

If the administration doesn’t get its act together soon, and I mean very soon, not only could Luzon be plunged into total darkness but the Visayas dragged into the "Dark Ages" as well.

The danger arises from the ruinous decision of the government to force through a re-bidding of the US$50 million Leyte-Cebu HVAC Interconnection Updating Project which had already been awarded to the Sumitomo Corporation of Japan based on a bidding held last year, in May 2000. In a surprise move, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) which is personally chaired by President Arroyo, and the Investment Coordination Committee, chaired by Finance Secretary Jose "Lito" Camacho, had negated the award and insisted on a re-bidding.

Secretary Camacho, in a letter addressed last October 2, 2001, to Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Tadao Chino, stated that President GMA had ordered the re-bidding "to conform with government policies and procedures," and as a "commitment to good governance reforms . . ." If there were any discoveries of tomfoolery in the previous award, the administration did not say.

I submit, strongly, that President Arroyo – if the "recall" was not directly her idea – restudy and reasses this rash action. It was not explicitly demonstrated, either in the NEDA decision or Camacho’s letter, how suddenly, without any evidence of irregularity, the government could invalidate the result of a bidding that the NEDA itself, under Acting Director-General Raphael Perpetuo M. Lotilla himself, had unequivocally stated to be in order. That assurance had been contained in a letter, dated May 4, 2001, which had been delivered to co-bidder Alcatel Kabel Norge, AS (Norway).

Why the precipitate turn-around? Is something rotten (as was said in Hamlet) not in Denmark (or Norway) but somewhere in Manila?

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Let’s examine the disastrous consequences of this delay.

The mammoth project, as part of the 1997 Philippine Development Plan of the National Power Corp. or NAPOCOR, is scheduled for completion next year, 2002. It aims to boost the total power transfer capability of the Leyte-Cebu interconnection to 400 Megawatts (MWs). Without this interconnection, Cebu, Panay and Negros will experience massive blackouts and power shortages. The Visayas stands to be plunged into darkness by 2003.

What’s worse is that any delays in project implementation would incur heavy losses for the government, the NAPOCOR in particular, totaling more than P7.77 billion annually! What sort of administration, cash-strapped as it already is, would allow P7.77 billion of the people’s money to be flushed down the toilet?

If the Asian Development Bank, moreover, stands firm in its decision NOT to re-bid – averring that no condition for bidding had been violated – a new search for alternative funding would push the project backwards by another three years. Can GMA and Camacho pull the miracle of producing this huge new funding out of their hats? And even if the ADB were to relent and approve a re-bidding, the implementation of this would take at least one year. In both cases, the country would lose.

Let’s get real. If the Sumitomo Corporation were given the green light to push through with its awarded-project, the government would save over P150 million, with ADB financially backstopping the undertaking. This would save, to take just one example, the prime Southern city of Cebu from being blanketed into darkness. If politics is the goal, let’s not forget the formidable Visayan vote in 2004.

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If you ask me, there is a clear case of impropriety on the part of the NEDA secretariat and the Investment Coordinating Committee in demanding a re-bidding.

In fact, a memorandum submitted by Resident Ombudsman Christopher Soguilom to Ombudsman Aniano Desierto, dated October 22, 2001, asserts that "this constitutes palpable violation of Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act", meaning Republic Act No. 3019. How specific can you get?

I submit that President GMA was ill-served by her advisers and their Secretariats in this boondoggle. With talk of terrorism in the air (and in the ASEAN), doesn’t it constitute "business terrorism" when signed contracts are revoked without substantiation of any irregularity, and we play with a dubious hand? We are demonstrating once more that there is no level playing field. "Some are always more equal than others" is the message which is given.

We are, sad to say, once again sending the wrong signals to foreign investors, particularly Japan which is our most important trading partner and source of ODA "aid" and investment in Asia. If we speak of tourism alone, Japan represented an influx of more than three million tourists over the past ten years. That’s about 820 tourists per day. Japan has pumped millions of investment dollars and yen into this country.

We were dismayed when Japan recently issued an advisory warning Japanese tourists about the risks of coming to the Philippines. Are we now bent on provoking Tokyo to issue another advisory cautioning Japanese investors about risking their money in our economy?

When all is said and done, the underlying principle is "Fair is fair." If we change the rules after the basketball game is over, disqualifying the winning team, then nobody will come over to play with us.

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National Defense Secretary Angelo T. Reyes rang me up asking for a meeting. So, I invited him to dinner last Monday at the La Dolce Fontana. We had a heart-to-heart talk for two hours in which he explained that there had been no bias in favor of any firm, such as Thales (Thomson CSF) of France in the bidding specifications. Angie Reyes tried to explain, too, why it would be embarrassing at this late date to cancel his November 8 "official visit" to Paris. After Paris, he admitted, he would go to London to deliver a speech and also meet with Defense officials.

I reiterated my caveat that, since Thales, GIAT, and other French companies – and British, too, mind you – are desperately competing for juicy contracts in the November 20 DND-Armed Forces bidding, a visit to Paris and London by our Defense Secretary would be regarded by people as a suspicious coincidence, even if his motives and record were impeccable. (When there are big contracts being bidded, there’s perennially a big IF.)

Although he was as charming as usual, it was clear that, gritting his teeth, General Reyes was determined to push through with his trips to Paris and London. (By this writing, he may have already left). Anyway, even if he relented before our parting and suggested that I no longer publish his "very long" letter to me, I’m publishing it – I must add, apologetically, in installments. Cuentas claras, as they say.

I still say it is a matter of wrong timing for Angie to go. But have you ever tried to say "no" to a general and convince him a decision is "wrong"? Sometimes I think we would be more successful in getting the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan and stopping Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) depredations and kidnappings in mainland Mindanao, if the combat and strategic operations were conducted by sergeants instead of generals.

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THE ROVING EYE . . . There’s obviously a smear campaign against Acting Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, designed to torpedo him in the Commission on Appointments. Now he’s being accused of having a relation with a 62-year old lady whom Nani Perez swears is just a longtime family friend of his and his wife’s. "My wife laughed merrily at the news items," Perez told me yesterday. But he’s not so merry about the insinuation and other derogatory allegations which are being fielded by unnamed hit-propagandists. Perez pointed out that the news "bit" mentioned above appeared in almost identical language in three newspapers (including The STAR, it seems). Oh, well, Nani: That’s what happens when some other persons want your job. This is deplorably the land of the "blind item", the black propaganda "White Paper", and the tidbit of salacious gossip. To say the same old thing with a different twist, if you’re in the kitchen, you’ve got to take the heat.