MANILA -- President Macapagal-Arroyo's interactions with ZTE Corp. executives while their proposal to undertake the NBN project was pending her government’s approval was not only a violation of the unwritten rule on delicadeza but was also a violation of Philippine anti-graft laws.
This was the opinion of the Quezon City-based National Union of People's Lawyers, chaired by human rights lawyer Romeo Capulong.
NUPL secretary-general Neri Javier Colmenares, sad in a statement that any offer by ZTE Corp. for the use of its golfing facilities, and other expenses related to the travel of the President to China, constituted gifts prohibited by Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and RA 6713 or Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officials.
“The presidential pronouncement finding nothing wrong with Ms Arroyo playing golf in the company of ZTE officials as part of her efforts to invite investors to the Philippines is misleading and is a distortion not only of the laws on graft but of the values which should attend the office of the President and other public offices,” Colmenares said.
The lawyer said RA 6713 prohibits Ms Arroyo or any other official from requesting or accepting the offer of ZTE for the use of its golfing facilities and for any other expenses.
Section 7 which deals with solicitation or acceptance of gifts states that public officials and employees “shall not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment... from any person in the course of their official duties... or any transaction which may be affected by the function of their office.”
Former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr.'s claim that his group requested ZTE for the use of its golfing facilities for the President's party merely because the other facilities were expensive is “damaging evidence against the President since it admits to gaining a favor or entertainment from ZTE Corp.," Colmenares said.
“While a President may legally meet with potential investors to convince them to invest in the Philippines, he cannot ask personal favors from said investors. ZTE is no longer an investor that needs convincing but rather an investor with a multi-billion peso project waiting for approval before the Office of the President,” the lawyer explained.
The NUPL urged the President to fully disclose her participation not only in the latest issue on the NBN ZTE deal, but in the entire contract itself as required by the Constitution which mandates that “a public official must be accountable to the public at all times.”
“We hope that the NBN ZTE anomaly will not go uninvestigated and its perpetrators unpunished in the same way that other anomalies involving Ms Arroyo went,” Colmenares said.
The lawyer added that challenges aired by the President's allies for critics to bring the issue to the courts were “misleading” since Ms Arroyo could always claim immunity from suit.
“Unless the President waives her immunity from being charged in court, her challenge to the people to bring issues against her to court is legally baseless and nothing more than a hypocritical assertion intended to confuse the issue,” Colmenares said.
