The Lying Syndrome
Another Senate Hearing, another day of pointing fingers and endless lies tossed carelessly in the wind. Cabinet Secretary Mendoza has finally spoken, but I find no truth in his words. What good will lying do to anyone at this point? Okay fine, let’s say that he is telling the truth and the Blue Ribbon Committee isn’t, then how come he cannot explain and defend the true nature of the NBN deal? Is it an executive deal or just a contract?
Apparently, an executive deal is between governments (China and Philippines). And unlike a contract, it isn’t open for public bidding. So being an executive deal, AHI couldn’t have possibly been eligible for even making a proposal for the NBN, much more have Joey de Venecia III (JDV3) be a ‘proponent’ for the deal. And being an executive deal, it has to satisfy the following requirements:
1. After the executive agreement is signed, the Department of Budget and Management will issue a forward obligation authority (FOA) saying the government has the resources to pay the proposed loan.
2. Having received the FOA, Malacañang gives the go-signal to the Department of Finance (DOF) to negotiate a loan for the project.
3. The DOF talks to its foreign counterpart to finalize the loan.
4. The Monetary Board reviews the loan agreement.
5. Congress then approves the budget for the loan.
The keyword here is ‘loan agreement’; if the government did sign any, then the NBN is indeed an executive deal. But the thing is, there is/was no loan agreement at the time PGMA signed it in China. So NBN is a contract.
But Mendoza stays firm in saying that it is an EXECUTIVE DEAL. Now, the other confusing thing about this is that based on the contract, there was an executive agreement but the DOTC claimed there was none.
So who is telling the truth here? Do we believe what the documents say or do we put our confidence in what Mendoza and other cabinet secretaries are telling us?
If NBN is indeed a contract, then JDV3 could be telling the truth. If NBN isn’t, then JDV3 is lying. But since Mendoza couldn’t defend the NBN’s nature, then I’ll have my money on JDV3.
