There will be no more corruption scandals like the one that forced the Arroyo administration to scrap the broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., according to President Aquino. The statement was issued amid reports that the administration is considering broadband interconnection for all government offices nationwide, with P800 million mentioned as a ballpark cost.
The deal with ZTE, priced at $329 million, was signed in Boao, China by ZTE executives and then transport and communications secretary Leandro Mendoza. Among the principal witnesses was then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who left her husband’s sickbed to attend the ceremony. The corruption scandal that ensued cost Benjamin Abalos his job as chairman of the Commission on Elections, while Romulo Neri was shunted from the National Economic and Development Authority to the Social Security System.
The scandal raised serious concerns about rules governing tied loans and utilization of official development assistance. A Supreme Court ruling on executive privilege, which Neri invoked when he refused to divulge more details about the ZTE deal to the Senate, tends to promote opaqueness in ODA utilization. That opaqueness can lead to another ZTE-type scandal.
The administration that espouses daang matuwid can correct this by initiating rules that promote transparency and accountability in foreign-assisted projects. Laying down clear rules should also be appreciated by other countries. No government relishes seeing its soft loans linked to corruption overseas and its private companies losing contracts because of flawed bidding and other procurement procedures in the host country.
Those procedures must be streamlined even as the Aquino administration considers implementing its own national broadband inter-connectivity project. Alongside its anti-corruption campaign, the government must also restore foreign businessmen’s confidence in the safety of their investments in the Philippines. Foreign donors will also appreciate not seeing their loans and other forms of assistance tied to corruption. Addressing these concerns should be part of any presidential commitment to avoid another ZTE-type scandal.