Senate inquiry – ZTE

Since I arrived home about 3 or 4 hours ago, I’ve been listening to the Senate hearing on the anomalous ZTE NBN Deal. Jun Lozada who was a technical consultant for the project is now up on what can be likened to a witness stand.

I’ll say a silent prayer for his safety, though I know he has nuns and priests guarding and supporting him since his ordeal started a couple of weeks ago, he’s probably in greater danger now that he’s spoken to the Senate, and it’s televised live on national cable TV.

A lot of people are caught up in that big mess and the subsequent efforts to cover it up. I believe that he really must be in grave danger. More so than JDV.

When the hearing was suspended for lunch, the Cabinet members and Malacanang personnel came out on a press conference, explaining/rebutting Lozada’s statements. It’s high time that deals like these are exposed because I am sure everyone knows this isn’t the only deal that’s padded with bribe money. It happens in small scale projects as well.

It’s just taking so long for this Senate inquiry to get to the point. Each senator has his/her own set of questions. So they are each piecing the puzzles together, but in segments. I wish they prepared better as a group so they can have a common strategy. Then maybe it wouldn’t take the whole day to finally get into specifics of the deal that I think should be the focus.

No, I don’t mean to criticize how the senators are doing their jobs. I just pity Lozada for having to endure the endless questions, sometimes he is asked the same question by another person. And though he now looks comfortable sitting in the middle of the hall, I’m sure he is anxious too.

I wonder if something will really come out of this?