BY JP LOPEZ
THE Senate will go full steam ahead with
its NBN-ZTE inquiry despite the investigations of the Office
of the Ombudsman and Department of Justice.
"Let us not allow the Senate to be diverted
from its investigative function just because another
government agency is opening up an investigation into the same
subject matter," said minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
"My suggestion is we go full steam forward and damn the
torpedoes."
Pimentel also chided Malacañang for
suggesting that the senators give way to the investigation of
the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman began its investigation last
Monday with no-shows by Jose Miguel Arroyo and former Planning
Secretary Romulo Neri. Their lawyers said they did not receive
an invitation from the graft court.
The DOJ's fact-finding investigation, which
started Tuesday, provided the government a chance to justify
the awarding of the $329 million national broadband contract
to China's ZTE Corp.
Pimentel said there is no reason to scuttle
the Senate inquiry into the contract which he said constitutes
a public and not private crime, committed by people in
government, and is therefore a matter of public interest.
Pimentel said that ironically, while the
Senate is being dissuaded from pursuing its investigation, the
DOJ has moved to conduct its own inquiry of the broadband
scandal with the approval of President Arroyo.
"We are not preventing them from doing
that. We are not bound by what other agencies are doing. For
all we know, these agencies might be manipulated by forces
beyond the control of the Senate," he said.
The Senate inquiry will also look into the
alleged wiretapping of telephone conversations of star witness
Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. and businessman Jose "Joey" de Venecia
III which was uploaded in YouTube.com.
Sen. Francis Escudero said they will ask
that a copy of the video be submitted to the panel when it
resumes its hearing Tuesday.
The video entitled "Lozada - Crying
Babies," showed a caricature of two pigs using the voices of
Lozada and De Venecia discussing their commission in the NBN
contract with ZTE Corp.
"Inamin ni Lozada, pero spliced daw yung
recording. Inamin niya yung boses na yun pero hindi daw
kabuuan ng kanyang mga sinabi at hinati-hati daw ito,"
Escudero said.
"Para po sa akin, magandang marinig mula sa
testigo ang katotohanan partikular sa mga boses at tape
recordings ng kanyang sinasabi at kung may dapat kasuhan man
dapat sigurong alamin muna sino nga ba ang nag-wiretap," he
said.
PNP chief Avelino Razon Jr. and police
officials are prepared to defy a subpoena from the Senate,
citing charges of obstruction of justice filed by Sen. Jamby
Madrigal before the Ombudsman.
"Kaya kahit gusto naming makipagtulungan sa
Senado at i-submit ang aming sarili sa kanila, the case filed
by Senator Madrigal would prevent us," he said.
Madrigal filed the charges February 15
against President Arroyo and 14 others including members of
the Cabinet and ranking police officials for attempting to
prevent Lozada from testifying in the ZTE scandal by allegedly
abducting him upon his arrival last February 5 at the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport Terminal 1.
Members of Migrante International held a
picket at the Department of Foreign Affairs, challenging the
Philippine diplomats who witnessed the signing of the NBN-ZTE
deal in China in April last year "to come clean with all they
know regarding Arroyo's shady deals."
Migrante chair Connie Bragas Regalado
claimed that "Arroyo's tentacles of tyranny and corruption
likely extend across oceans and into Philippine embassies and
consulates."
"It is therefore likely that diplomats are
also privy and part of the high-level corruption now rocking
this administration," she said.
Ambassador Sonia Cataumber Brady joined
Trade Secretary Peter Favila as witnesses to the signing.
Emmanuel Nino Wee Ang, a commercial attaché and director of
the Philippine Trade and Investment Center at the Philippine
consulate in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, gathered the signed
documents. -With Raymond Africa and Anthony Ian Cruz
