Answerable

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

More than two years after the issue of a highly anomalous government contract was considered resolved by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo by a mere cancellation, the $329-million National Broadband Network deal with China's ZTE Corporation continues to hound this country's President and her First Gentleman.

In the newest chapter in the still unresolved NBN-ZTE scandal, the Senate Blue Ribbon committee has recommended the filing of graft charges against First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and the other personalities involved in the botched contract. The same report also recommended the further investigation of the President for her role in the approval of the contract. The committee, led by Sen. Richard Gordon, sought the filing of charges against almost all of the personalities involved in the scandal, including the whistle blowers and those who tried to stop the whistle blowers from testifying.

Sen. Gordon believes that the President has a lot to answer for, and that she is liable because she did not stop the signing of the contract even after being informed of a bribe offer by former socioeconomic secretary Romulo Neri who was at that time involved in the project. The Ombudsman, who has yet to show any interest in catching big fish in the fight against graft and corruption, has taken the easy way out and dismissed the case on the mere pretext of presidential immunity from suit.

Sen. Gordon disagrees with the Ombudsman, citing Section 22 of the Ombudsman Act of 1989, which provides that the Office of the Ombudsman “shall have the power to investigate any serious misconduct in the office allegedly committed by officials removable by impeachment.”

The lawyer of the First Gentleman sums up the level of arrogance and the attitude of impunity that covers those who believe that they are above the law while they are under the protection of the President and the institutions that are acquiescent to her by brushing off the Senate Blue Ribbon committee report on the NBN-ZTE scandal as nothing to worry about as it is only recommendatory in nature.

If the system has been absolutely corrupted to allow public officials to refuse to answer even the recommendations of a Senate committee report, then it is up to the Filipino people to take responsibility for restoring the system into one that protects the interests of the people before it protects individuals that are entrenched in power by exercising their democratic rights in the next elections so that we can look forward to a day when public officials are truly answerable to the people they claim to serve.*