If news reports are accurate, it is heartening to know that a ranking Chinese Communist Party (CPC) official, CPC International Department vice minister Liu Hongcai, was in town to conduct a quiet probe of the mess, as well as the controversial Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) in the Spratly islands.

That a high-ranking official of the CPC, which actually calls the shots in China, came to carry out the investigation is an indication that the Chinese government seriously wants to know the truth.

China's fight against official corruption is well-known. It is also well-known that penalties for getting caught are draconian. Corrupt Chinese officials, both in the public and private sectors, have been executed. The ZTE people involved in the NBN deal and who may be guilty of corrupt practices, therefore, have good reason to fear for their lives as Senator Lacson suggests.

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If China is truly a friend as she claims she is, she should not allow these aberrations to affect our growing bilateral relations. It does not serve any useful purpose to issue statements that smack of veiled threats to the effect that those relations could be adversely affected by the ongoing Senate investigation of the ZTE-NBN scandal or the JMSU.

(Earlier, Beijing through its embassy in Manila said that it is "worried about some recently emerged tendencies in the Philippines, which may impose negative influence on China-Philippine friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation.")

It would also not be conducive to healthy relations if China were to try to thwart moves by our legislature to define Philippine national territory in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The law is the law and what belongs to us according to the law no one can assail, much less threaten us by saying that our ties will be affected.

Senate President Manny Villar put it rightly when he said that the investigations will in fact help strengthen bilateral ties by identifying areas that need improvement.

And it is good Liu said that "the Chinese government and the CPC attach great importance to its relations with the Philippines," adding they would continue to respect the sovereignty of other countries and not interfere with their internal affairs.

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The "evil" (according to Romulo Neri and as attested to by Jun Lozada, Senator Ping Lacson, et. al) and "luckiest bitch" (according to Albay Governor Joey Salceda) squatting in Malacañang has suddenly asked the House of Representathieves (according to many but, in my view, not all) to pass the bill defining the Philippines' national territory.

I hope her instructions to her lackeys at the House are not intended to assuage the feelings, or to tailor the baselines according to the wishes, of a foreign power. No one need remind her that the interest of the nation comes before hers.

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Incidentally, I have it on good authority that the results of the seismic survey covered by the JMSU are with the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC). The interpretation and evaluation of the data gathered were done here in Manila at the PNOC offices by a team composed of experts from all three companies. It is, therefore, to the PNOC that probers should direct their queries.

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The Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy has once again identified the Philippines as the "most corrupt" in Asia.

Following this revelation, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) cried: "It's a shame!" Darn right it is.

It also prompted the Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Province of Manila led by the usually cautious Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales, archbishop of Manila, to issue a pastoral statement which reads in part:

"Whenever government money is stolen or whenever suppliers' or contractors' money is offered as bribe to secure projects, graft or corruption is committed. As an injustice to the government and people, graft and corruption are against the Seventh Commandment and have the added element of betraying one's country."

The seventh commandment is "Thou shalt not steal."

No matter how one reads it, the pastoral letter is a direct indictment of the Arroyo regime.

The metropolitan bishops added: "Thus, if one holds on to money or its equivalent that is not theirs, justice demands restitution of the stolen or bribe money to the owner. If the owner can no longer be located, then the money should be given to the poor or to a credible institution that will give money to the poor or give true services for the poor."

I am afraid that unlike the CBCP's call for Ms. Gloria Arroyo to lift EO 464 which prohibits government officials from testifying in Congress without her permission, this one will fall on a very deaf ear.

But it's worth a try. Paging the liable and guilty ones - salvation awaits you.

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The Union of Foreign Service Officers (UNIFORS), I am told, will petition Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo to rescind the transfer of foreign service officer Patricia Paes from our embassy in Washington to the consulate general in Osaka. Instead, she should be recalled to the Home Office.

Paes has been in Washington for almost nine years. Under DFA rules, personnel assigned abroad should serve for only six years and thereafter recalled to the Home Office.

I would be very, very surprised if Romulo finds the guts to rescind Paes' assignment order to Osaka and recall her to the Home Office. The latter is reportedly very close to Ms. Arroyo. And Romulo wants so very much to keep his job.

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If the UNIFORS truly wants to set the DFA aright, it should also craft a petition to Arroyo, through Romulo, to limit the number of political ambassadors. They should be appointed on a contractual basis for no more than three years at a time. Those who prove to be really effective may be given an extension, but in all cases, the appointment must be co-terminus with the appointing power.

While on the subject, a career ambassador who was appointed by Arroyo to go to New Delhi and has been awaiting confirmation by the Commission on Appointment was suddenly advised she was staying put in her present post. She was not even told why. (That's how this regime shabbily treats career civil servants.) The reason: Another political appointee in the person of Francisco Benedicto was named to go to New Delhi.

Benedicto is one of a kind. He was ambassador to Singapore, Brazil and Canada, after which he was appointed by Arroyo as undersecretary of foreign affairs for heaven knows what. He is known to be very generous and is famous for his "VISA(card) diplomacy." He is a very nice person and apparently very rich. I feel, however, he should have just passed on this one and let the poor career ambassadors, some of whom may have even served under him, to have their chance.

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Warm congratulations to Manny Pacquiao for his victory over Mexico's Juan Manuel Marquez!

A host of government officials led by Vice President Noli de Castro and some senators and congressmen trooped to Las Vegas to watch the Pacquiao-Marquez fight.

If you ask them, they will proclaim to the high heavens they spent their own money to watch the fight. Remember the Eighth commandment, boys, which in layman's language means "don't lie." If you do, bad 'yun!

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In one of my columns, I asked why congressmen have a one-month Christmas break. Now they are getting another month as Holy Week break. Geez, they must be working their butts off when they are not on a break.

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Today is the 326th day of Jonas Burgos' disappearance.

Why does it take so long for the Court of Appeals to decide on the petition for writ of Amparo filed by Jonas' mother, Edita?