Waiting for the truth
Scratch a liar and you’ll find a thief, a priest said, as he expressed the public’s hope that Romulo Neri would tell the truth about the government’s broadband contract with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. Neri was the socio-economic planning secretary and director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority when he was allegedly offered P200 million in exchange for a NEDA endorsement of the ZTE deal.The story was followed by reports that Chairman Benjamin Abalos of the Commission on Elections had offered $10 million to the son of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. so a ZTE competitor where the younger De Venecia is a majority shareholder would withdraw its bid for the broadband deal. Confronted with the story about the P200 million, Neri would neither confirm nor deny it, saying only that such matters were hard to prove.
Neri has been shunted to the Commission on Higher Education — a move that obviously caught both him and the man he replaced by surprise. The inevitable speculation is that the transfer was connected to the ZTE deal. Neri reportedly informed President Arroyo, who chairs the NEDA, about the purported P200-million bribe offer. The President allegedly told him to ignore the offer but approve the ZTE deal anyway. This is tantamount to condoning corruption, involving an amount that would constitute the serious crime of plunder.
Neri says he believes in karma, which is why he never accepted bribes. But crimes can also be committed through acts of omission. By looking the other way, the culture of corruption is perpetuated. It will take only a few good individuals to fight venality and other forms of evil. There must be such individuals of integrity and courage in this country — public servants who put more weight on truth and justice, who owe their allegiance to the nation and their Maker rather than their boss the appointing power.
At stake for Neri is a government position that he apparently does not even want. Would it be such a big loss for him in exchange for telling the truth?
