PIMENTEL ASKS BLUE RIBBON PANEL TO SUMMON ABALOS AND 11 OTHER PERSONS TO HEARING ON BROADBAND NETWORK DEAL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today asked Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, chairman of the blue ribbon committee, to schedule the public hearings sometime this week on the $329 million National Broadband Network (NBN) project as he drew up a list of 12 resource persons and witnesses who should be invited to the inquiry.

The blue ribbon committee is lead panel tasked to look into the circumstances leading to the signing of the NBN agreement between the government and China's ZTE Corporation amid allegations that it is fraught with anomalies. Also set to investigate the telecommunications deal is the committee on trade and industry, chaired by Sen. Mar Roxas.

Pimentel requested for the issuance of summonses to the following:

Commission on Elections Chairman Bernjamin Abalos, Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Commission on Higher Education Chairman Romulo Neri (former director general of National Economic and Development Authority), Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila, Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Lorenzo Formoso, Edgar Dula Torres and Jimmy Paz of the Comelec, ZTE vice president Yu Yong, Jose de Venecia III of the Amsterdam Holdings, Inc., former Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) chairman Ramon Sales, journalist Jarius Bondoc, and Prof. Raul Fabella of the UP School of Economics.

Pimentel, who filed Senate Resolution 127, calling for probe of the NBN project, said Chairman Abalos could not invoke Executive Order 464 to evade the hearing since such presidential order applies only to officials of the executive branch under the supervision of the Office of the President.

Furthermore, he said the Supreme Court, in its 2006 ruling, has invalidated the provision EO 464 prohibiting Cabinet members and subordinate officials from testifying in congressional hearings without presidential clearance.

Abalos is under increasing pressure to resign or face impeachment after being accused of stepping beyond the bounds of his authority and committing an unethical act by allegedly lobbying for the government's approval of the proposal of the ZTE Corp. to implement the NBN project.

The latest to demand the resignation of Abalos "for indiscreet conduct" are the Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, and Foundation for Economic Freedom Inc. and the Action for Economic Reforms.

Pimentel himself has called for the resignation of Abalos but expressed the belief that the Comelec chairman will hang on to his post regardless of public opinion because of fear that his capability to defend himself from all these charges may be weakened once he is out of power.

"But whether he resigns or not, he should answer all these accusations against him," the senator said.

The Opposition lawmaker said Abalos has the temerity to cling to his post in the face of allegations of wrongdoing because he is relying on the support of Malacañang. He noted that the Palace has been defending Abalos on the NBN deal.

Pimentel said the Palace has no choice but to take the cudgels for Abalos because of his role in the Palace-Comelec conspiracy to rig the 2004 presidential election to ensure the victory of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the 2007 senatorial elections that allowed Team Unity bets to make it to the Magic 12.