Friday, March 14, 2008 Resolve NBN scandal in court, OFWs urge
A NUMBER of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Saudi Arabia said the controversial national broadband network (NBN) deal should be resolved in court and not in other venues.
In a report of Pinoy Extra published in the issue of the Arab News, one of Saudi Arabia's English newspapers, Filipinos working there expressed their sentiments and observations on what the people especially politicians, who are somehow taking advantage of the issue.
Carlito Astillejo, a 1992 Bagong Bayani awardee, said the controversial issue can only be resolved through a thorough investigation and due process in the courts.
"It cannot be resolved through a political decision and grandstanding, like what's happening now," he said.
George Bahaynon, former president of the Riyadh chapter of the Philippine Society of Mechanical Engineers, wants the Senate to stop its investigation, citing the general perception that the NBN-ZTE hearings "are not in aid of legislation but in aid of persecution."
Another OFW, Benny Quiambao, encouraged the leaders of the country to stick to due process for truth to come out.
"Based on those truths to be borne out by due process, the courts thus could make the right decision. We should not regard accusations as the truth. Accusations should be backed up by evidence," he averred.
Ransom Pirote, an OFW working in Al-Khobar, has expressed exasperation that Filipinos in Metro Manila are trying to project that what they are doing is representative of the sentiment of a majority of the population, when in fact it is not.
"Their sentiment is not at all representative of the so-called 'people's pulse'," said Pirote, adding that "A majority of Filipinos are in the countryside and their views and sentiments tend to show support for the government."
Roi Alojado, who advises the All Filipino Community and Sports Association (Afcscom) and Saudi Arabia Hiligaynon, discounted the viability of a people power at this time as a solution to the political controversy.
"The people are already tired of people power," he said
Last Tuesday, Senator Panfilo Lacson presented another witness to the controversial contract with China's ZTE but his witness, Leo San Miguel, surprised the lawmaker when he testified that the deal is not anomalous. (FP/MSN/Sunnex)
