'Blacklist'

Showing her extreme displeasure over what she construed as a slight on her stature at the Senate by colleagues, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago amused and bemused us anew Monday as she walked out on them at the session hall. Although she was on the verge of collapsing at her own histrionics, Miriam threw her fits without any one of her fellow Senators daring to cross swords with her during those moments. Even Senate president Juan Ponce-Enrile, who was presiding the session, was unusually silent over Miriam’s latest tantrums.

It all started with the Senate inquiry into the three Filipino construction firms among the seven foreign contractors included in the World Bank “blacklist” for alleged “collusive” bidding in WB-funded road projects in the Philippines. The WB blacklisted these contractors believed to have bribed public officials and rigged the bidding of the Philippines’ National Roads Improvement and Management Program 1 (NRIMP).

On the eve of the Senate inquiry, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan questioned the referral of the WB probe to the Senate committee on economic affairs chaired by Miriam. Since it involved possible corruption charges against certain Philippine government officials, Kiko suggested that this probe be referred to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee. 

But it turned out, as previously approved by the Upper Chamber, Senate majority leader Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri had already referred the WB probe to the Senate committee on economic affairs as the primary body. The Senate committee on public works, chaired by Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla, and the Senate committee on finance headed by Sen. Edgardo Angara, were designated as the secondary committees. This was in deference to Miriam’s earlier legal opinion that the Senate must respect the WB as “sovereign” entity where the Philippine Senate has no jurisdiction over.

Had any staff member of Miriam checked first with the Senate majority leader, they would have spared the feisty Senator from her hypertension attack. To her credit, though, Miriam later apologized to Kiko for screaming her head off at the Senate floor over a non-issue.

Less than 12 hours later, it was a completely cool and poised Miriam who appeared to preside over the Senate hearing yesterday. She started the public hearing acknowledging receipt of letter to her from WB country director Bert Hoffman and senior external relations officer Leonora Gonzales about their “regrets” to appear before the Senate inquiry. Aside from the fact that the WB is an international organization, Miriam cited the WB’s proceedings were not criminal in nature and merely administrative actions were taken against the erring contractors under their investigation.

Present at the Senate hearing were Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. and the respective representatives of EC de Luna and Cavite Ideal, two of the firms in the WB blacklist. But in the case of De Luna, his firm was permanently barred from any WB-funded projects. “You may relax. You are not going to be humiliated or cross-examined beyond your mental capacities today. This is not the proper forum,” Miriam assuaged them.

Then again, Miriam went ballistic after taking note of the absence of other key invited government officials, specifically, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Finance Secretary Margarito Teves. Incensed over their non-appearance at her Senate hearing, Miriam ranted at the failure of the respective offices of Teves and Gutierrez to act promptly on the WB report against the erring contractors.

Teves sent Miriam’s office an excuse letter to explain he could not attend the Senate hearing because he had to appear for another hearing at the same time before the House of Representatives. I could not fault Miriam in being peeved at the Finance Secretary. Teves could have sent one of his deputies at the Finance Department to represent him at the Senate hearing.

In the case of Gutierrez, she sent words that the internal rules of the Ombudsman prevents her to appear before the Senate hearing because their proceedings are confidential until after their preliminary investigation has been concluded. Fair enough.

I completely agree with Miriam in her being incessantly furious over the fact that the Office of the Ombudsman has long sat on their own investigations on this WB report after they were notified about it in November 2007. She has the right to fume at their lack of action on it until it came out in the media last week. She rightfully got angrier after Ebdane testified yesterday that these contractors in the WB blacklist are still allowed to participate in other DPWH projects as long as these are not WB-funded projects.

But even if she was hopping mad over these things, Miriam terminated her Senate inquiry on the WB case after just two hours of hearing. What gives?

At the outset, Miriam made it clear her Senate investigation aims to unmask the public officials who may have connived with the contractors. She admitted, though, the Senate investigation is not to conduct preliminary investigation. Of course, the Senate inquiry is supposed to be “in aid of legislation” to fill the gaps or the loopholes in the laws that were being used by malefactors in the commission of their crimes of corruption in their transactions with the government.

With as much as P300 billion of so-called “economic stimulus” package that are mostly infrastructure-based — as supposedly contained in the 2009 budget appropriations — it should be a cause of concern to ensure that these public funds are not again raided by “favored” contractors in the Arroyo administration. EC De Luna Construction Group was identified yesterday by opposition Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson as one of them.

The bulk of these infrastructure funds are allocated in the DPWH budget this year and Ebdane’s handling of this WB report is far from satisfactory. According to him, there are as many as 700 contractors in the DPWH “blacklist” and another 300 being added to this “blacklist.” Is this “blacklist” a guarantee against such “collusive” culture of bid-rigging that has been deeply embedded at the DPWH? Thus, it should be no wonder why Miriam surrendered to the futility of the Senate inquiry into this culture of corruption at the DPWH.