Press Release
September 24, 2007

ROXAS: GOV'T MUST SHOW MORE DECISIVENESS - STOP ZTE DEAL
URGES PGMA TO ALLOW NERI TO ATTEND

Senator Mar Roxas said the executive must show more decisiveness in dealing with China by scrapping altogether the controversy-ridden National Broadband Network (NBN) contract with Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

"The announcement of the Departments of Trade and Justice last Saturday to suspend the NBN deal changes nothing, as the Supreme Court had already put it on hold two weeks ago," said Roxas, who filed today Senate Resolution No. 144 urging the President to cancel the ZTE contract.

"The government must show it can stand up for the people's interest, and cancel the deal altogether," he added.

Roxas, chairman of the committee on trade & commerce that is co-hearing the Senate investigation on the ZTE contract, called on to the President to once again send her Cabinet officials and other government officials to the hearing to shed light on the matter. He said this upon learning that two key Cabinet officials will not make it to this week's hearings.

"I received a phone call from Finance Secretary Margarito Teves that he will not be present on Wednesday because he is leaving with the President for New York tomorrow," Roxas said.

"In the meantime, I am concerned about reports that Commission on Higher Education acting chairman Romy Neri will also be unable to attend the Senate hearing due to the same reason," he said.

"I call on the President to allow Secretary Neri to perform his paramount duty of testifying before the Senate and reveal the truth behind the ZTE broadband fiasco," he added.

"We want to get to the bottom of this. Aside from the obvious anomalies as presented so far, we need to know how not to get into a mess such as this one again," he said. Based on the last two hearings however, Roxas said "There is nothing redeemable about the NBN project, if the testimonies of government officials are a gauge."

"The supposed cost savings with an NBN are a fable, and do not consider anything aside from government-to-government interactions. What's more, the government assumes the obsolescence of all other methods of communication such as landline and mobile phones and faxes. Are they saying that the government will not be using the telephone from hereon?" Roxas said.

He urged the government, "Give us the factual information for us to report to the people. Fudging the numbers and hiding behind claims of benefits will fool no one."

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