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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
Malacañang told the Senate to close its probe
on the controversial national broadband network deal after the
Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former Socio-economic Planning
Secretary Romulo Neri cannot divulge his conversation with the
president on the project.
”It is time for the Senate to close its
investigation. They have gathered enough evidence in aid of
legislation. Everything has been said and there are no evidences [to
pin down President Gloria Arroyo],” Chief Presidential Legal
Counsel Sergio Apostol said in an interview.
”We urge them to draft legislation but they
cannot do that [because] they’re just wasting the people’s
money,” he added.
Apostol believes efforts to continue the probe
have political color because some senators are gunning for the
presidency in 2010.
The broadband deal between the government and
Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE Corp. was supposed to link all
government agencies with a broadband system. But the project was
canceled by President Arroyo over allegations of overpricing and
corruption.
Among those who were linked to the $329-million
deal were former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos
and Jose Miguel Arroyo, the president’s husband. The controversy
compelled Abalos to resign from the poll body.
Senators have asked Neri, who was socio-economic
planning secretary during the time the deal was being studied, to
confirm if the president is backing the project. But he declined,
saying the conversation is covered by executive privilege.
Executive privilege is the constitutional right
of government officials not to disclose matters that would
jeopardize, among others, national security and diplomatic ties.
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