PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accused critics, particularly those linking her in the controversial national broadband network (NBN) project between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp., of being immature, which she said only hampers the development and the progress of the country.

Arroyo, during the 36th Top Level Management Conference of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcaster sa Pilipinas at the Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay, cited the NBN project with ZTE as among the important and needed programs that suffered because of this immaturity.

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According to her, the NBN project was part of efforts to build up the telecommunication and digital infrastructures in the country which is included in her 10-point agenda.

To realize the project, Arroyo said the Philippines had to seek China’s help to finance it.

But she was later forced to cancel the deal following suspicions of irregularities stemming from an alleged bribery attempt “involving a constitutional officer, not under the administrative supervisory jurisdiction of the President of the Philippines.”

Arroyo said she had the report investigated by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita through the Office of the National Security Adviser, and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno through the Philippine National Police, but despite the results’ being “inconclusive” she had to inform then Chinese Premier Hu Jintao about the cancellation.

“There are a lot of unsubstantiated allegation and innuendoes mixed up with the facts of the case. This is part of our immature political system, it is part of our immature institutions. And this immaturity hurts the growth of the nation. That is why after the economic reforms, I have long called for the fundamental reform of our political system and our institutions.”

She added that she has intensified the campaign against corruption in government citing the country would have gotten a grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation by now after finally passing the “control of corruption” category had the Philippines not been upgraded from a low-income level to low-middle income country.

“With our rise in status from low income to middle income, the expectations for accountability and transparency arise. For the benchmarks of the US MCC, we passed the scorecard of a low income country standard for ruling justly, including control of corruption, investing in people and economic freedom. But now that we have moved to middle income level status, we must hurdle a higher benchmark.”

With the upgrade, Arroyo said the country now needs greater accountability and transparency as well as “reform to make politics less destructive.”

She also enjoined the media to do their share, not by becoming a government propaganda machine, but by “delivering truthful stories based on facts.”

The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee recently recommended the filing of charges against all those linked or mentioned in the NBN deal, including Arroyo.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said as far as Malacanang is concerned nothing new was discussed, but they are leaving the report to the Ombudsman to assess and act on.

For her part, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said Malacanang simply respects the Senate’s report and would leave it to them to resolve their internal debate on the inclusion of supposed NBN whistleblowers Jose de Venecia III and Rodolfo Lozada Jr. in the list of those who should be charged.

Fajardo added that they are not concerned about threats of impeachment as the administration is more focused on the governance particularly the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the areas affected by the recent typhoons. (JMR/Sunnex)