Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Ex-Cabinet officials suggest five steps to Arroyo on NBN mess
FORMER Cabinet secretaries and other high-ranking officials of government called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to follow through with actions her recent statements against corruption in government and recommended several steps that they said the Chief Executive should do within one week.
In a press conference at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, 61 former government officials from the Marcos, Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and even the Arroyo administration called on the embattled President to:
1. Order acting Commission on Higher Education (Ched) chairman Romulo Neri to resume his testimony before the Senate investigation into the national broadband network (NBN) without any restrictions or limitations.
2. Order the release and delivery to the Senate of all public records pertaining to the NBN-ZTE deal, starting with the minutes of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) board meetings on the project.
3. Suspend Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Assistant Secretary Lorenzo Formoso, as the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) was the lead agency for the project.
4. Suspend Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, National Police Chief Avelino Razon Jr., Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite, Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) deputy chief Angel Atutubo, Police Senior Superintendent Paul Mascariñas and all those involved in the attempt to prevent NBN witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. from testifying.
5. Order a halt to any further attempts by such agencies as the Department of Justice, DENR, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to harass Lozada and those who are testifying in behalf of the truth.
The group which includes the "Hyatt 10," a group of former Cabinet officials of the Arroyo administration who resigned in 2005 amidst the "Hello Garci" scandal, said President Arroyo should institute these actions within a week, saying that the public -- through the power of reason and communal action -- can make institutions work against corruption.
"The President said recently: 'The masses hate irregularities and anomalies. So as I, I also abhor anomalies.' We affirm the first sentence. We ask that the second sentence be demonstrated in action," the group's statement said.
"Having belatedly cancelled the ZTE contract to show her supposed anger with reported corruption in this deal, the President must now follow through with actions to determine the actual anomalies and establish responsibility for these. Otherwise, canceling the contract could be interpreted as an effort to cover up corruption rather than to pin down and root it out," the group added.
"The President must demonstrate her commitment to the truth through these actions within one week as more and more of our people make their judgment. She must do these or be condemned as complicit with, and in fact, as being at the center of, the lies surrounding the NBN-ZTE deal. The President must do these or the people will make their judgment and act on the basis of their conviction," the statement said.
The demand letter was drafted last Saturday, a day after a major protest that called for the investigation of the botched broadband deal.
It was the biggest anti-Arroyo rally so far with organizers saying the protesters reached 70,000 at its peak although the police placed the crowd at 15,000 to 20,000.
The statement is the second demand letter that the group has issued since the broadband deal controversy.
In February, they circulated the statement Time To Go, which called on incumbent government officials to resign their positions.
It was then that the group earned its name, La Salle 60, because of the 60 original signatories to the statement. The statement was circulated after a mass for Lozada in La Salle Greenhills. The group has since grown to 91.
One of the group's member former Civil Service Commission (CSC) chairperson Karina Constantino-David said the one-week deadline is more than enough if the President is really serious in her pledge to eradicate corruption in the government.
David said all it takes for the President is the political will to do the things and see that it is implemented for the people to recover their faith and trust in the government.
Former senator Vicente Paterno said the President should start thinking her ways and start implementing much-needed reforms in governance especially against graft and corruption to restore the people's faith in the government.
Paterno added that failure of the President to do so might forced some sectors of society to resort to extra-constitutional means to implement reforms or worse oust her from power.
"We are a nation of many groups and if no effort is taken by the government, various actions might be taken by these groups that we may not want. It is up to the government to preempt this by ferreting out the truth," he said.
He added that the people are tired of corruption and efforts of the administration to hide the truth in the present issue adding that they need more than lip service to believe that the government is indeed serious in its battle against graft.
"The people need evidence that she is really serious in the fight against corruption. If she doesn't attend to it, we can agree that she is not serious," he added.
While the group has not joined the calls for President Arroyo's resignation, former education secretary and Hyatt 10 member Florencio Abad earlier warned that "the call for resignation is most likely our next step "if there will be no meaningful and satisfactory response from her."
"Once there is a (united) call for resignation, things will move faster," Abad said.
He said the people are more united now in seeking the truth and accountability of public officials and following through the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines' (CBCP) earlier call for "communal action."
He said the President should not belittle their call adding that the group represents a wide constituency and that it was the first time that such a big group of former senior government officials have gathered and made known their stand.
David agreed saying it was the first time such a diverse group of people come out in the open.
For her part, former presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles said the people really want change in the government.
"People want to make sure that in case President Arroyo steps down, it's not just the change of people. There should be action that needs to be pursued after this administration," Deles said.
She joined the calls of the civil society groups for the President's resignation.
The group said they would make their stand on the call for Arroyo's resignation after the one-week deadline has expired adding that right now their focus is to seek to consensus of the rest of the group's members even as they appealed to the people not to be impatient with the process.
Among those who signed the statement were Abad; David; Deles; Paterno; Tomas Africa, former National Statistic Office administrator; former agriculture officials Roberto Ansaldo and Senen Bacani;, Angelito Banayo, former secretary political affairs; former finance officials Cesar Purisima, Ramon del Rosario, Jesus Estanislao, Ernest Leung, Romeo Bernardo and Milwilda Guevarra; former budget secretaries Benjamin Diokno and Emilia Boncodin; former agrarian reform officials Bruce Tolentino, Hector Soliman, Conrado Navarro and Gerardo Bulatao; former social welfare officials Corazon Soliman, Lina Laigo and Clifford Burkley; former tourism officials Walfrido Reyes, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, Narzalina Lim and Sostenes Campillo; former education officials Juan Miguel Luz, Edilberto de Jesus, Jose Luis Gascon and Isagani Cruz;, Jose Cuisia Jr., former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas governor; Guillermo Cunanan, former Manila International Airport general manager; Edgardo del Fonso, former presidential peace adviser; Franklin Drilon, former executive secretary; Narcisa Escaler, former United Nations ambassador; Evangeline Escobillo, former insurance commission commissioner; Victoria Garchitorena, former presidential management staff; Marrieta Goco, former anti-poverty chairperson; Cielito Habito, former National Economic and Development Authority director general; former transportation officials Pete Prado and Josefina Lichauco; Jose Molano Jr., former executive director of the Commission on Overseas Filipinos; and Vitaliano Nanagas, former chairman of the Development Bank of the Philippines.
Others officials include Imelda Nicolas, former anti-poverty chairperson; former environment secretary Victor Ramos; former press secretary Rod Reyes; former National Youth Commission chairperson Amina Rasul-Bernado; former ambassador to the US Albert del Rosario; former Monetary Board members Mileto Salazar and Antonio Salazar; former foreign affairs secretary Leticia Ramos-Shahani; former local government secretary Cesar Sarino; former trade secretary Juan Santos; former health officials Mario Taguiwalo and Jaime Galvez-Tan; former insurance commission head Ricardo Tan; former anti-poverty lead convenor Veronica Villavicencio; and former Land Bank of the Philippines president Deogracias Vistan. (AH/Sunnex)
