Doubts aired Recto to open ZTE records to Senate probe

07/25/2008

As expected, the appointment of new National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Dir. Gen. Ralph Recto drew reactions as varicolored as the proverbial spectrum.

Former Sen. Ralph Recto reportedly faces a tough challenge ahead as he sits as Neda chief, with public pressure closing in on him to open Neda records on the ZTE-National Broadband Network (NBN) controversy to congressional probers.

The opening to public scrutiny of the Neda-investment coordinating committee’s (ICC) minutes of the meeting on a closed-door discussion sometime September

2006 which allegedly contain information on how the then-proposed NBN project was transformed from the original concept of a build-operate-transfer (BOT) deal to a government-to-government scheme or from being at no cost to the administration to that of a loaned project from the proponent is seen as the test of Recto’s fitness for his new post

That meeting took place when Neda was still headed by newly appointed Social Security System (SSS) president Romulo Neri.

The same Neda documents allegedly carried damning evidence that could implicate some top officials from the executive branch in the supposed irregularities in the deal.

One Recto’s drumbeater in the Senate, however, immediately dismissed the idea of the defeated administration senatorial bet’s making the Neda documents readily available to Senate probers, since the controversy happened when he was not yet at the helm of the agency.

His partymate,Speaker Prospero Nograles believes Recto is not only qualified but is “one of the best choices of the President to run the government’s main economic think-tank.”

Despite the unpopularity of the Value Added Tax Law, which Recto sponsored when he was still senator, Nograles said Recto should be credited with helping to save the country from economic perdition because the law “was the bitter-pill that saved the country from financial collapse.”

“Recto is highly qualified for the position and there is no doubt about his sterling record both as a congressman and as a senator of the Republic. While he paid a political price for sponsoring what was then perceived to be an unpopular VAT law, this law saved our country from economic perdition and buoyed up the economy when we needed it most,” Nograles said.

“Senator Ralph was correct and he bit the bullet like all of us who supported his VAT proposal. The true test is qualification of the appointee and not closeness to the appointing power. But it’s better to have both. Let’s all support him and wish him well as he assumes his new post,” he added.

Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II also vouched for the capability of Recto to head the Neda, saying “I’m sure he is more than qualified because he understands the economic issues. He is a good and right man for the job,” Gonzales said.

Gabriela Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said that the appointment could “make or break” the political career of Recto.

“Anything can happen. It could end his political career, knowing the GMA administration. He should have resisted the appointment. If he opts to follow GMA, then it can dim his bright future. If he can be independent, and chooses people’s interests, there is hope for him,” Ilagan said.

Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo echoed the warning of Ilagan even as he said that Recto could show his worth by recommending policy measures that could address the crises in food, fuel and power.

“Recto’s appointment to Neda and his acceptance places him in a challenging situation to recommend alternative policy measures to address the crises in food, fuel and power. If he fails, it would adversely affect his political career,” Ocampo said.

The business community also expressed apprehensions about the appointment amid Malacañang’s insistence that Recto could be a good economic planning manager because of his authorship of the VAT Law.

The Makati Business Club (MBC)maintained that Recto could not be considered a “professional economist” just by his authorship of a taxation law.

Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero practically forewarned Recto on the matter of dealing with the ZTE controversy once he starts to discharge the duties as socio-planning economic secretary.

“I don’t want to raise our hopes here in the Senate but I hope we will be pleasantly surprised if and when he opens the records of Neda. Being a former member of this institution, I’m sure he understands where we’re coming from, why we’re insistent in getting these documents. If Neri failed to appreciate our move, I’m sure Recto will be more reasonable in dealing with us on this issue. I hope, but I’m not expectant. But nevertheless, we wish to be pleasantly surprised in the coming days or weeks,” he said.

Escudero, who did not hide his disapproval of Recto’s appointment in the Neda, likewise said the agency’s approval the so-called suspension or repeal of the VAT can not be expected to be got, now that the former senator who happens sponsored the law on expanded VAT (eVAT) is its chief.

“As to the issue of revisiting the VAT law, if the one appointed in the Neda will be the same person who pushed the increase in VAT rates, this I think, clearly indicates that the President does not have any plan at all to have it restructured or repealed at this time,” Escudero, chair of the ways and means committee, said.

“I’m not questioning his qualification. It’s just that I’m not really in favor of his appointment because the government is not an employment agency. Malacañang is under no obligation to provide jobs for those who need it. For a highly sensitive agency like the Neda, it would be deemed best that a career official, not a political appointee will be the one sitting there,” he said.

Escudero noted that the case of the ZTE deal alone proved that the Neda chairman can easily be influenced by outside political forces when evaluating government projects.

Sen. Joker Arroyo, who is a“group mate” of Recto in the “Wednesday Club” in the Senate, came to the latter’s defense, saying that Escudero’s idea will not take off, as far as the Neda-ICC documents are concerned.

“He doesn’t know anything about the ZTE issue. He was not with the Neda yet (when the issue broke out).” he said.

Recto, Arroyo, further said, being the former ways and means committee chair of the Upper Chamber, is well-versed in economic matters, having handled the deliberations and approval of the eVAT in the upper chamber.

“He’s the author of the eVAT and he never regretted it. He wanted the position because he knows he can handle the job. Who has the appointing power is beside the point here. The Neda position is apt for him, one of the most difficult job in the government, highly technical,” he said.

Some of Escudero’s colleagues appear to hold the same position as his.

Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, also a member of the so-called “Wednesday Club”, when asked whether he expects Recto to be cooperative in dealing with the ZTE issue, answered in the affirmative.

He expressed hope that Recto’s appointment would improve the relations between the executive department and the Senate.

Sen. Benigno Aquino III on the other hand, dared Recto to be always truthful and not to follow the footsteps of Neri, who pleaded executive privilege in his refusal to divulge to the Senate the details of his conversation with President Arroyo regarding irregularities in the NBN deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. reiterated his support for Recto, emphasizing however that the appointment to Neda is “a graphic case of a square peg in a round hole.”

“Good man, bad administration,” he said.

Angie M. Rosales, Gerry Baldo

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