BY JP LOPEZ

"LOOK who’s talking."

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his son Jose "Joey" III do not have the high ground in calling for a moral revolution in the Arroyo administration as they are also involved in anomalous and overpriced projects.

"Speaker De Venecia cannot claim NorthRail to be an old issue. It is very relevant to the NBN project in as much as the two may show a pattern of interference in government projects by the Speaker’s office," Enrile said.

Enrile said Thursday that the Speaker asked him "not to rock the boat" after he denounced the "overpriced" $500 million NorthRail project in a privilege speech in 2005.

Enrile said he told the Speaker he would leave the Senate to do its job because he had done his part.

He said De Venecia has no one to blame but himself and his son Joey if his name and the Speaker’s office got entangled in the national broadband controversy.

Joey is co-owner of Amsterdam Holdings Inc., (AHI), one of three proponents of the $329-million national broadband network (NBN) project which went to China’s ZTE Corp.

The ZTE-NBN deal was eventually cancelled by President Arroyo after allegations that government officials were bribed to approve the deal with ZTE.

Enrile said Joey revealed before the Senate that his father arranged several meetings with government officials in relation to the NBN project.

"When your son is angling for a government project and you call to meet government officials who hold the power to award that project, there surely is something wrong going on," Enrile said.

He said no less than an AHI official linked the Speaker’s office to possible efforts to influence government officials to favor the company.

‘ABOVE BOARD’

De Venecia said he has nothing to hide in pushing for the NorthRail project because everything about it is "above board."

In a statement, he said he only pushed for the project because of the need for an "efficient, affordable and reliable mass transport system" after the old Philippine National Railways line north of Manila was abandoned for more than 30 years.

"This is a project much awaited and favored by our people in Luzon," he said. "A cheap and efficient transport system means lower production cost for industries resulting in cheaper prices of goods and services."

He said the NorthRail line from Caloocan to Malolos would be the cheapest mass transport system in the country.

"The railway would open the countryside to economic development and intensify trade and commerce in provinces traversed by the new rail system. The economic benefits would translate into new jobs and higher incomes for millions of families in Luzon," he said.

The NorthRail project, a component of President Arroyo’s "Strong Republic Transit System," will link Caloocan City to Malolos City in Bulacan and Clark special economic zone in Pampanga. It covers 80 kilometers of track.

The project is being financed and built by the Chinese government through China’s first 20-year "concessional" loan to a Southeast Asian country. – With Wendell Vigilia