Deeper probe into broadband deal sought
By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Manila Times Reporter
A MAJOR labor organization on Tuesday sought for a more in-depth investigation in connection with the losing bidders in the $329.5-million broadband contract between the Philippines and a top telecommunications firm in China.
In a statement, the Construction Workers Solidarity (CSW) said the incorporators and owners of all the companies that bid in the project should be made public as part of the probe being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) over possible sabotage in the loss of the ZTE contract signed by the Philippine government and ZTE officials in the presence of President Arroyo in China.
The CSW said a deeper probe into the incident should be done in view of reports that the son of a high-ranking government official owns one of the losing companies.
ZTE is the second-largest telecommunications firm in China.
The NBI has filed charges of malversation of public property against Philippine Commercial Attaché to China Emmanuel Nino Wee before the Ombudsman over the loss of the ZTE documents, according to CSW.
Crispin Soriano, CSW secretary-general and spokesman, said that identifying the owners of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. (AHI) and Arescom, two companies that bid for the project, would help the NBI determine motive, if any, to support its suspicion that the project is being sabotaged.
Besides the loss of the documents, Department of Transportation and Communications Assistant Secretary Formoso has accused AHI of spreading “disinformation” about the national broadband project.
The statement also quoted Arnel Dalumpines, chief of the NBI task force, as saying that the ZTE’s competitors in the bidding might be behind loss of the signed documents between China and the Philippines.
When completed, the national broadband project will connect all government offices nationwide down to the barangay level, at a cost much lower than the price of the same services offered in the IT market.
“It might be a demolition job hatched by the competitor against the winning bidder ZTE Corp. They might have connived with Commercial Attaché Ang and Chinese interpreter Allan Liu,” Dalumpines was quoted as saying.
Ang, who worked closely with Liu during President Arroyo’s visit to China, said the ZTE documents were either stolen or were lost in his hotel room in China after they were given to him for safekeeping.
The broadband project aims to speed up communications and coordination among government offices, and is expected to result in billions in savings in taxpayers’ money
A MAJOR labor organization on Tuesday sought for a more in-depth investigation in connection with the losing bidders in the $329.5-million broadband contract between the Philippines and a top telecommunications firm in China.
In a statement, the Construction Workers Solidarity (CSW) said the incorporators and owners of all the companies that bid in the project should be made public as part of the probe being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) over possible sabotage in the loss of the ZTE contract signed by the Philippine government and ZTE officials in the presence of President Arroyo in China.
The CSW said a deeper probe into the incident should be done in view of reports that the son of a high-ranking government official owns one of the losing companies.
ZTE is the second-largest telecommunications firm in China.
The NBI has filed charges of malversation of public property against Philippine Commercial Attaché to China Emmanuel Nino Wee before the Ombudsman over the loss of the ZTE documents, according to CSW.
Crispin Soriano, CSW secretary-general and spokesman, said that identifying the owners of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. (AHI) and Arescom, two companies that bid for the project, would help the NBI determine motive, if any, to support its suspicion that the project is being sabotaged.
Besides the loss of the documents, Department of Transportation and Communications Assistant Secretary Formoso has accused AHI of spreading “disinformation” about the national broadband project.
The statement also quoted Arnel Dalumpines, chief of the NBI task force, as saying that the ZTE’s competitors in the bidding might be behind loss of the signed documents between China and the Philippines.
When completed, the national broadband project will connect all government offices nationwide down to the barangay level, at a cost much lower than the price of the same services offered in the IT market.
“It might be a demolition job hatched by the competitor against the winning bidder ZTE Corp. They might have connived with Commercial Attaché Ang and Chinese interpreter Allan Liu,” Dalumpines was quoted as saying.
Ang, who worked closely with Liu during President Arroyo’s visit to China, said the ZTE documents were either stolen or were lost in his hotel room in China after they were given to him for safekeeping.
The broadband project aims to speed up communications and coordination among government offices, and is expected to result in billions in savings in taxpayers’ money
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