Sunday Musings: More Quotes on the NBN/ZTE Scandal

In my last Sunday Musings: A Senior Moment , I blogged about the National Broadband Network (NBN)/ZTE deal, a local problem of scandalous proportions. I'm glad I picked that one up before it developed into a full-blown circus. My post today basically updates the collection of quotes that I posted last Sunday. These quotes speak for themselves. The lies leap from the page, like oil unerringly separates from water. The alibis are too flimsy that you wonder if these guys think we are idiots or they are simply shameless carpetbaggers.

Although these quotes are responses to random questions from different people, I think you can draw your own conclusions based on the consistency (or lack of it) of their statements in the last two weeks. I do not wish to annotate these quotes and present my own views. Suffice to say that if I were to do so, it would whip up my blood pressure. I cannot afford to be in such a state when the only other person in the room right now is my wife, who's watching CNN and fuming over the Portuguese police's clumsy handling of the McCann disappearance case.

The Philippine Star, September 3-

Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos quote no.1: "I do not know what they are talking about."

Abalos quote no.2: "I want this contract. I will give you $10 million."

Jose de Venecia III, co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings Inc., quote no. 1: "With all due respect sir, I cannot do that (back off) even for $1 (million) because our proposal is better."

Abalos quote no.3: "This is my last hurrah, let me have the contract."

Abalos quote no.4: "We want our funds now."

A ZTE official: "What about the funds we gave you?"

Abalos quote no.5: "Do you want me to send transcripts on your conversations?"

Congressman Carlos Padilla quote no.1: "We have documents during the meeting showing the President saying that the project should be put up, but not at government's expense by means of a loan as what happened in the present setup."

The Philippine Star, September 4-

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya, Jr quote no.1: "He (Apostol) was told to clear his statements on this particular issue first; if not, not to speak at all on the issue."

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves quote no.1: "What I know is that there is a supplier's contract, but there is no loan agreement yet (with the Chinese government). A supplier's contract is nothing without a loan agreement."

Zhang Shumin, ZTE director of sales, quote no.1: "We have been quiet because we know these are all baseless accusations. The time has come, however, to let the public know the truth. There was complete transparency in the proposal, evaluation and approval of ZTE's application for the Philippines' NBN contract."

Shumin quote no.2: "I have to clarify here again the fact that ZTE, China's largest listed telecoms solution provider, is the first proponent for the NBN project contrary to allegations by competitors."

Shumin quote no.3: "There was no undue haste in the evaluation of the ZTE proposal. It went through a six-month evaluation from CICT and NEDA, and another four months at the DOTC for final evaluation and comparison to other proposals which, incidentally, were late in submission. The dates our proposals were submitted and endorsed to various government agencies have been officially recorded and are totally verifiable."

Andaya quote no.2: "As I see it we're not yet sure whether there are funds for the NBN project and this will not come from the budget."

Teves quote no.2: "I went there to listen because I wanted to know more about this project."

Former Congressman Rolex Suplico quote no.1: "The statements of both Abalos and Teves regarding their roles in the awarding of a controversial $330-million government relecommunications contract to a Chinese firm are full of inconsistencies and only muddled further the issue."

Suplico quote no.2: "We appeal to the Supreme Court to take these things into consideration because the interest of 88 million Filipinos are bound to be adversely affected if the government implements the deal without determining if they did the right thing or not."

The Philippne Star, September 5-

Lawyer Oliver Lozano quote no.1: "Chairman Abalos is not a sacred cow, and no amount of cover-up can suppress the truth."

Abalos quote no.6: "That is his prerogative. It's up to him."

Abalos quote no.7: "Unless this man comes out in the open, I'm sorry I cannot talk about him. Let's not glorify these so-called unnamed sources. How can you answer unnamed sources?"

Abalos quote no.8: "It's not him (younger de Venecia) who said that. If he was the one who said that, I will answer that. But if it's again an unnamed source, let this unnamed source come out before I glorify that."

Abalos quote no.9: "We've not even seen the contract, whether there is a contract, a memorandum of agreement or a memorandum of understanding. We don't know so we cannot say if they have come to us for approval or exemption."

Teves quote no.3: "No one has told me to keep quiet on this deal. I just read about the supposed gag order in the STAR."

Andaya quote no.3: "There is little I know about this deal. As I informed you yesterday (Monday), we are not booking this NBN as an obligation, so there is no money for it in the 2007 budget and the 2008 budget."

Andaya quote no.4; "There is no loan agreement to talk about."

Teves quote no.4: "There is an unutilized $400 million, but none of this will be used for NBN."

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol: "One of the Palace officials said don't talk since you don't know anything about it (ZTE issue). No one else except only thise who know about the issue can speak about it."

The Philippine Star, September 6-

Former NEDA Director General Romulo Neri quote no.1: "I cannot comment on that (alleged bribe offer). I cannot prove whatever they say."

Neri quote no.2: "We approved the broadband project. But we did not approve the suppliers. The choice of supplier was Department of Transportation and Communication's choice."

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita quote no.1: "If there are complaints pertaining to this particular issue which is a very hot issue, I think the the recourse here would be to go to court."

Ermita quote no.2: "If there are people who question the conduct, transparency of any transaction pertaining to any government project, maybe the best thing for them is to come out with evidence and go to court so that this could be resolved with finality."

Ermita quote no.3: "The marching order (of the President) is for the DOTC to justify itself before the courts. Definitely there is no order to discontinue just because of the uproar."

Ermita quote no.4: "If there's something wrong to be found out later, the least that can happen is for it (NBN project) not to push through."

Ermita quote no.5: "The President is confident that the Cabinet officials involved are competent in handling it and would come out with good conclusion."

Ermita quote no.6: "There is nothing to hide as far as we are concerned. There is nothing to hide as far as that particular activity is concerned, that's why we are leaving the matter up to the appropriate Cabinet members. Definitely, there's nothing to worry about."

Howard Xue, ZTE global marketing director: "If our proposal is unfavorable to the Philippines,I wonder how you would describe our competitors? There is such a thing as clever presentation to hide the overall costs (of the project) and use propaganda to condition the minds of the public."

Senator Panfilo Lacson quote no.1: "The Palace slip is clearly showing, and probably showing it all in ordering a gag on Cabinet officials regarding the ZTE deal. Here is a scam that costs 300 percent--from $130 million to $330 million."

Lacson quote no.2: "What's so important in going to Hainan even for a short visit to witness the signing? She wouldn't go there if it were not so important to her. She didn't stay very long, not even 10 hours, she flew back. How important is this agreement to her?"

Lacson quote no.3: "If they would bid at $132 million, they would already have at least $30 million profit. But the amount went up to $262 million because a lot of officials asked for kickbacks."

Lacson quote no.4: "Based on my information, a down payment of $5 million was given. The problem of ZTE now is that it is a publicly listed corporation in China. If publicly listed, you have to write off the down payment in your books if nothing happens in the contract."

Lacson quote no.5: "There's another problem. If we go through this broadband network, we will be entrusting our security to a foreign country. In this country we have available backbones, there are existing ones already. Why should government still deal with a foreign government when this is very sensitive in the sense that communications through broadband could be monitored by other countries?"

The Philippine Star, September 7-

Suplico quote no.4: "The mere fact that Abalos admitted that he accepted gifts from ZTE Corp. in the form of free plane tickets, free hotel and even free golf games shows he violated the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, which is an impeachable offense."

Senator Manuel Roxas II: "The Senate trade and commerce committee will specifically inquire into the China loans worth $1.8 billion, the approval of which is allegedly tied to the broadband project. This new loan adds about P920 to P1,026 in per capita indebtedness on top of the P45,000 that every citizen already owes the country's creditors."

Trade Secretary Peter Favila: "It's really up to the government of the Philippines. If it does not want it (ZTE contract) it's no big deal to them."

The Philippine Star, September 8-

Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI): "ZTE's proposal will require the Philippine government to obtain a $330 million loan from the Chinese government at an interest rate of three percent per annum, payable in 15 years with a grace period of five years. But the Philippine government will not have to pay a single cent towards the $240 million project cost of AHI. AHI will construct, operate, and maintain the NBN at no cost to government."

De Venecia III quote no.2: "It's his word against mine on the bribe of $10 million. On the fact that we're sour-graping--no, I'm not sour-graping."

The Philippine Star, September 9-

Abalos quote no.10: "My lawyers are now preparing our offensive move. aside from libel, we are studying other legal actions we can take against him."

Abalos quote no.11: "His allegation is definitely not true. It never happened."

Abalos quote no.12: "Who am I to bribe for ZTE? What is my connection to them? That is P500 million. Where will I get that money?"

Abalos quote no.13: "They want that contract set aside. Who's going to benefit if that contract is nullified? The answer is very simple. He is just using me (to win the contract)."

Enjoy your Sunday!

Print

Related Posts, By Label (auto-generated):

Widget by Hoctro | Jack Book | The-Online-Quest