ZTE report dinudoktor?

HINDI raw mapalagay si ZTE-NBN scam whistle-blower Joey de Venecia III. Malakas ang kutob niya na dinudoktor ang final report ng Senate Blue Ribbon Committee kaugnay ng kaso na siya ang unang nagpa­sabog. Kapag nagkataon, absuwelto ang mga orihinal na personalidad na idiniin ni de Venecia sa kanyang naunang testimonya sa Senado.

Dahil dito, nanawagan si Joey kay Blue Ribbon committee chairman Richard Gordon na ngayon pa lang ay ipalabas na ang final report kaugnay nito.

May katuwirang mangamba si de Venecia. Umiinit na ang lagnat-pulitika kaugnay ng 2010 elections. Baka nga naman gamitin ang usapin sa ZTE na political weapon. Kapag nangyari iyan, ang buong katotohanan tungkol sa mga dapat managot sa iskandalo ay tuluyang mapag­takpan.

Umaangal na si young de Venecia dahil napakatagal na raw inuupan ni Gordon ang kaso. Kaya kahinahinala daw na baka ang resulta ng unang imbestigasyon ng komite nang si Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano pa ang namu­muno ay tuluyang mabago.

Mayroon daw mapananaligang impormante si De Venecia na nagsabing may mga pagbutinting nang ginawa sa orihinal na report ng “Cayetano committee” at malamang ay maabsuwelto ang mga taong nasasang-kot gaya nina First Gent Mike Arroyo at ex-COMELEC chair Ben Abalos.

Magugunita na matapang na humarap sa Senado si de Venecia noong 2007 kaugnay ng maanomalyang proyekto sa national broadband network ng pamahalaan na ini-award sa ZTE ng China dahil sa pakikialam o utos ni Mike Arroyo. Pero sa unang bahagi ng taong ito’y nag­karoon ng reshuffle sa mga komite ng Senado ma­tapos mapatalsik si Sen. Manny Villar bilang Senate President na pina­litan ni Sen. Juan Ponce-Enrile, ki­la­lang administration stalwart. reorganiza-tion with then Senate Pre-sident Ma­nny Villar stepping down in favor of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, an administration stalwart. As a result, chairmanships of various com­mittees including the Blue Ribbon, changed hands in favor of the Arroyo adminis­tra­tion.__“When Senator Gordon took over the Blue Ribbon, he declared that the final report was almost complete. What’s taking him so long to release it?” asked de Venecia.__One possible reason was that a “doctored” report would be used by the administration as a bombshell against the opposition, with whom de Venecia has been iden­ti­fied.__He said he was wor­ried that the committee under Gordon would completely change the conclusions reached by Cayeta­no’s committee. __De Ve­necia testified that he was warned to “back off” from the NBN deal by the Pre­sident’s husband, as well as former Co­melec chairman Abalos. __ Messrs. Arroyo and Abalos denied de Venecia’s allegations, with the First Gentleman adding that he was only reminding de Venecia that being the son of the Speaker he should avoid dealing with the government as a matter of delicadeza.__De Vene­cia countered, however, that he had been dealing with both the private and public sectors for many years in his capa- city as a private business- man and investor, and that he had never been a govern- ment official, whe­ther elec­ted or appointed.

De Venecia’s testimony was supported by a top government official, National Economic and Development Authority head Romulo Neri, who admitted being offered a P200-million bribe to support the ZTE proposal, which he said he refused.__But Neri refused to testify further, citing executive privi­lege.__ De Ve­necia, meanwhile, said he had been offered P500 million to step aside in favor of ZTE. __As a result of de Ve­ne­cia’s revelations, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was forced to scrap the contract three weeks after the Senate testimony, while Abalos resigned from the Co­melec.__ “On several occasions in the past few months, Senator Gordon announced that he was ready to release the results of the committee report to the public. The ZTE-NBN deal has been called the mother of all scams. Senator Gordon owes it to the Filipino people to release the report now,” said de Venecia.__He added that the public would not be fooled by a final report that had obviously been twis­ted to clear the Arroyo ad-ministration of wrongdoing.