Senators back Recto at NEDA
By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:20:00 07/25/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Senators Thursday welcomed the appointment of a former colleague, Ralph Recto, as director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, saying they hope Recto would be more cooperative with Congress in providing information on state-sanctioned deals like the national broadband network project.
Sen. Benigno Aquino III challenged Recto to stick to the truth and avoid following the lead of former NEDA chief Romulo Neri who invoked executive privilege in parrying the Senate’s attempt to pry into the minutes of the NEDA board meeting where the controversial NBN-ZTE deal was allegedly approved by the President.
Sen. Jamby Madrigal said she hoped that Recto would not use the position “as another free ticket to China like his predecessor and that he may be man enough for the job.”
Sen. Joker Arroyo said that his peer on the Senate’s Wednesday Group was “qualified for the job” being the main author of the expanded value added tax law.
“To all those who will oppose his appointment I will ask: Can you handle NEDA?” said Arroyo.
Arroyo, however, doubted that Recto could add anything to the NBN-ZTE probe in the Senate considering that the project was processed by the NEDA long before Recto’s appointment.
Another Wednesday Group peer, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, was hopeful that Recto’s appointment would lead to better working relations between the Senate, the NEDA and the Executive Branch.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said that while he agreed that Recto was fit for the post, he was worried that this could have an adverse impact on his image.
Sen. Francis Escudero said he would like to be pleasantly surprised by Recto on the NBN-ZTE deal although he doubted whether he would stray from the code of silence enforced by his predecessor.
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