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TWO
senators pressed the Arroyo administration to scrap the
controversial $330-million broadband deal with
China-based ZTE Corp., hinting that Malacañang could get
mired in another big scandal that would rock government
so soon after the midterm election.
Senate
Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and Sen. Sergio
Osmena III said they “smell something fishy” in the deal
Malacañang officials forged with ZTE for a national
broadband network, which had already triggered a howl of
protest from the business community.
ZTE
apparently was controversial in other countries, said
Pimentel, citing reports that ZTE “had run-ins with the
law in other countries.”
Osmeña
was convinced there was something wrong with the deal.
This is because “we do not need it. And it is grossly
overpriced. We have seven or more broadband networks in
the country, with another two being built.”
“Of
course, they still do not reach the countryside because
internet service is not yet so affordable. So why will
government spend on a project that will be hardly used?”
he asked.
Osmeña
recalled that he earlier tried to stop the so-called
Telepono sa Barangay project that would have cost P5
million to install “10 measly landlines” in 20,000
barangays—or billions in all.
He
recalled the Senate was able to stall the anomalous
project, hatched during the term of former president
Fidel Ramos, but the deal was “smuggled through during
the Erap and GMA administrations.”
That is
“P100 billion down the drain. . .for a project not
needed because cell sites could already service 95
percent of the countryside.”
The ZTE
deal had also prompted the Bishops-Businessmens’
Conference for Human Development, the Management
Association of the Philippines, the Makati Business
Club, the Foundation for Economic Freedom and the
Financial Executives of the Philippines to put out paid
advertisements questioning the transaction. |
