Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s threat to testify in the Senate investigation on the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corporation has caused the public to eagerly await the probe’s resumption. However, the former House Speaker, whose son was among the losing bidders in the rigged and overpriced project, has kept the public hanging in the balance by his insistence that he will testify “at the right time,” even as he has announced that he is ready to testify. Meanwhile, former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri, who could also provide vital leads, remains silent on the issue. So far only former Philippine Forest Corporation president Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada has come out with what he knows, and he stands by his story. De Venecia and Neri’s accounts could complete the picture on the NBN deal, a matter on which the Filipino people are entitled to know the whole truth. The right time for them to testify is now.
BY FLON FAURILLO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 17, June 1-7, 2008
