BY DENNIS GADIL

THE joint Senate panel looking into the anomalous $329 million broadband deal with China's ZTE Corp. is a long way from wrapping up its investigation.

"There is still vital information that senators know exists but has not come out on record. Thus, it wouldn't be prudent to come out with a partial report just yet," Blue Ribbon chair Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said.

But he said: "Any senator can submit his or her recommendation or make a partial report and the committee will consider it."

The other committees are trade and commerce chaired by Sen. Mar Roxas and defense and national security chaired by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon.

Cayetano was reacting to a proposal of majority leader Francis Pangilinan for the Senate joint panel to wrap up the probe and issue its initial recommendation.

Pangilinan has said that after 12 televised public hearings and a slew of witnesses, the joint panel should now be ready with its report.

"I believe we have gathered sufficient findings to merit a preliminary report from the Blue Ribbon committee," he said.

Cayetano stressed the issue is not whether the Senate probe body has received enough information but "it's a question of obligation to bring out the whole truth about the deal."

"This is the only way the committees can do its twin task of making effective recommendation and inform the public of matters of public interest," he said.

He said it is also "deceiving" to compare time spent on investigations and time spent on legislation, which are two different things.

He said the joint Senate panel is looking into holding two more hearings before finally wrapping up its investigation.

He said members of the joint Senate panel also know that most of the information has yet to come out from Malacañang, which he said continues to stonewall on the matter.

"The committee has received much information on the deal, the process, the contract and other details, on the necessity of the project, on system on foreign loans, etc," he said.

Cayetano said the Senate joint panel had thought of issuing a report on the abduction of ZTE star witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada until the police and airport officials "started not to cooperate."

He said there are NBN-ZTE-related issues still pending before the Supreme Court, which only proves that the Senate joint investigation is far from over.

He said these are the petition of former Planning Secretary Romulo Neri on executive privilege and their petition on the disclosure of the minutes of the meeting of the Inter-Coordinating Committee of the National Economic Development Authority on NBN-ZTE deal approval.

"These cases have direct impact on the investigation. And the mere fact that the officials of the executive department are not cooperating shows they don't want the public to know the whole truth or at least scrutinize their official acts," he said.