Gloriasays she ‘acted on ZTE controversy,’ laments lies

PRESIDENT Arroyo asserted on thursday that she had acted on alleged irregularities in the national broadband deal with ZTE corp. To the limit of canceling the contract even if the findings of two probes she had ordered were inconclusive,'for the sake of propriety.'

The President made the statement at the 36th Top Level Management meeting of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas ( KBP ) at the Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaytay city, replying to the recommendation of a Senate blue-ribbon board report that she be impeached for failing to act on alleged irregularities in the deal.

While discussing the significance of info and communications technology ( ICT ) to the broadcast industry, Mrs. Arroyo said that among the 10-point program of her administration is to develop digital infrastructure that would connect the country, which was why her state had earlier got financing from China for a national broadband network.

she revealed that when then Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri told her of the bribery attempt'involving a constitutional officer not under the administrative supervisory jurisdiction of the President of the Philippines,' she'advised' Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and the Interior Secretary Ronnie Puno about it'with the view of having the matter discreetly investigated.'

She said Ermita directed National Security confidant Norberto Gonzales to probe the problem, while Puno did his own enquiry.

'The observations reported back to me were inconclusive. Nonetheless for the sake of propriety, I moved to cancel the project after explaining the matter to the President of China,' she said.

during a bilateral meeting in Shanghai on October 2, 2007, the President explained to Chinese President Hu Jintao her'difficult decision' to order the suspension of the national broadband network and cyber education projects, both bankrolled by his state.

At the KBP event, the President expounded that'unfortunately, there are a large amount of unsubstantiated claim and gossip and innuendoes mixed up with the facts of the case.'

She added [*CO]'This is a component of our immature political system, it is a component of our immature institutions. And this immaturity injures the expansion of the state. That is why after the economic reforms, I have long requested fundamental correction of our political system and our institutions. I have worked unceasingly to change our economy and I have set it on a trail to reform.'

The President announced that her reforms have prompted the World Bank to upgrade the Philippines's earnings standing from a low-income country to a low-middle-income country that will now press the governing body to work harder in passing baselines on controlling corruption, making an investment in folks and business freedom, among others .

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