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DAVAO CITY—Former
President Fidel Ramos said nobody should stop the
investigations into the national broadband deal with a
Chinese corporation “because the truth of the matter has
not yet emerged.”
Ramos
made the comment here Saturday at the Lanang Golf and
Country Club, as he also made clear he was disgusted by
the apparent lack of political will of “the current set
of officials that we elected” to institute reforms
despite his having “almost repeatedly” reminding them
“to reform.”
Making
an appeal first time is no big deal, said Ramos. “But if
I [have to] do it the second time, third time, several
times...,” Ramos said, without finishing his sentence,
and then pointed out that his statement on Friday about
corruption still surfacing in the Arroyo administration
was “actually a statement I made in July 8, 2005, when
[the administration] was faced with three threatening
events.”
He said
he has been almost repeating that statement since that
time.”
Asked on
the investigations on the national broadband network
deal with Chinese firm ZTE, Ramos said three
investigations are already being done: the Senate
blue-ribbon committee, the Office of the Ombudsman and
the Department of Justice.
“And
within the Cabinet they are also meeting, and they have
exposed [former Neda chief] Secretary [Romulo] Neri
before the Malacannang Press Corps,” he said.
Although
Ramos would not single out the Arroyo administration for
what he described as “the greed, the apathy and the
corruption we brought down then and are once again
rearing their heads,” he did not spare the President
from culpability for the “leaking ship”.
“That
includes the ship captain, the crew, and the passengers.
We must not put new holes into the leaking ship,” he
said, calling on “all the current set of officials and
including all of us, to make sure that we do not sink
all together.”
Shortly
before he blew his birthday cake here ahead of his 80th
birthday on March 18, Ramos said he had only one word to
tell everybody, including the media: “Reform.” He did
not elaborate.
“We must
not lose sight of where we are going,” he said, chiding
the administration for apparently not heeding his
admonitions to correct the flaws in governance and
policies “that I have been saying since [the Arroyo
administration] faced three threatening events: the
Hyatt 10 [walkout of Cabinet secretaries and other
senior Malacañang officials], the withdrawal of support
of [former] President [Corazon] Aquino and the
withdrawal of support of [then] Senate President
Franklin Drilon.”
“Since
then, I have been doing the sermons almost repeatedly
and I have been calling for reforms to achieve unity,
solidarity and teamwork,” he said.
At the
testimonial dinner Friday night held by the Mindanao
campus of the University of the Philippines on its 13th
year, Ramos urged the UP constituents to help “stop the
whole of government from being an instrument of
privilege and corruption.”
He said
corruption may never be [prevented] entirely. But we can
certainly reduce its prevalence by greater transparency
and accountability on the part of government officials
as well as corporate managers.”
Elaborating on reforms, he zeroed in on “the
institutional barriers that hinder our country’s
development,” by dismantling monopolies in various
sectors, “particularly in utilities, and getting
government action to cut down the costs of doing
business in our country.”
Ramos
also met and conferred with his former supporters here,
led by Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza. Mayor
Rodrigo Duterte begged off, citing previous commitments.
But he repeated in his Sunday television program on
Sunday that he would also “like the truth to come out.” |
