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Solon seeks probe of 31 other 'ZTEs' with Chinese firms


Aside from the controversial ZTE deal, the Philippine government entered into at least 31 other “questionable" agreements with corporations in China immediately after the Asean summit last year, Akbayan party-list Rep. Ana Theresia Hontiveros said on Tuesday. "President (Gloria Macapagal Arroyo) lauded the deals as great investment opportunit(ies), but the agreements have the makings of the ZTE-NBN contract and Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA)," Hontiveros said in a statement. Hontiveros recently filed House Resolution No. 79 calling for an investigation into these allegedly questionable deals with Chinese corporations. “Congress should use its broad powers to check the abuses committed by the executive branch when it entered into these agreements." She said that in a short span of two days or from Jan. 15-16, 2007, the 31 agreements were signed between the Philippine government — represented by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Department of Trade and Industry — and their Chinese counterparts. She said the agreements covered trade, cultural protection, mass transportation and customs cooperation. Nineteen of the 31 deals covered agribusiness deals “that are patently unconstitutional and inimical to Filipino interests." “For instance, the memorandum of understanding between Fu Hua Corporation and DAR, DA, DENR allows for the lease of more than one million hectares of alienable lands for 25 years, renewable for another 25 years. This violates the constitutional duty of the government to distribute alienable lands under the agrarian reform program." She said the “all-around" deals also grant Chinese corporations access to the country's marine resources. "Since the content of the deals is vague, Chinese corporations can now enter Philippine waters and exploit our resources, a violation of the Constitution and the Fisheries Code." "This would benefit China, because the deals guarantee that the products from the projects would be exported to China," she added. Hontiveros urged the Arroyo administration to be transparent enough in letting the public know about the details of these deals to avoid suspicions that these are “midnight contracts with fly- by-night corporations in China." "Like JPEPA, no one has seen the content of the deals and the government is refusing to divulge their details to the public. They also violate constitutional provisions and laws on agrarian reform and access to Philippine resources," she said. “The government is also claiming that these are private agreements between Chinese and Philippine corporations, and yet government officials signed them to bind government agencies to specific obligations that must be fulfilled," Hontiveros said, saying that bilateral agreements should be ratified first by the Senate. The lawmaker said at least four of the Philippine corporations involved in the deals with Chinese corporations “are non existent" as they “have no records at the Securities and Exchange Commission." Hontiveros identified the companies as the B.M.S.B Integrated Bio-fuels Company, Negros Southern Integrated Bio-fuels Company, Philippine Marine Technology Group Inc., Sun Warm Tuna Fishing Corporation. “If they officially do not exist, why were the projects awarded to them?" Without regulations, there's no assurance that fly-by-night corporations are not getting kickbacks from the deals," she said. Hontiveros said the “gag order" on the ZTE broadband deal appears to include other agreements with China. "The NEDA, (The National Economic and Development Authority) for instance, is using Memorandum Order No. 108 to decline appearing before legislators to divulge the content of the agreements." She said the memo prevents top government officials from appearing before other bodies without Malacañang's consent to supposedly protect the officials' rights, ensure the security of confidential information vital to national interest, and uphold the Constitutional principle of separation of powers. However, she said the Supreme Court already ruled that "gag orders" such as the said memo, are unconstitutional. - GMANews.TV

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