Joey de Venecia III asks why Senator Richard Gordon is still fidgeting on releasing the final Senate blue ribbon report on the ZTE-NBN deal. More than two weeks after vowing to release the Blue Ribbon committee report on the ZTE-NBN scandal, Senator Richard Gordon has yet to deliver on his promise.
“Is he seeking approval of the final draft from his superiors in Malacanang?” businessman Joey de Venecia III asked yesterday.
Gordon concluded the Blue Ribbon hearings on the P16-billion scandal earlier this month with a promise to release the final report shortly thereafter. But only after the senator engaged the IT businessman in a heated exchange owing to what the latter said was Gordon’s prejudging the case.
While the Ombudsman had cleared de Venecia and his father, former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., of wrongdoing, Gordon had told a leading national broadsheet two days before the last hearing that he wanted the father and son charged. The Ombudsman is filing charges against former Comelec chief Ben Abalos and former National Economic and Development Authority head Romulo Neri for their culpability in the case, but excluded First Gentleman Mike Arroyo to the strong protests of various sectors.
The young de Venecia had accused Gordon of taking orders from Malacanang to implicate him and his father in exchange for “special favors.”
A failed presidential contender under the administration’s Lakas-Kampi, Gordon is expected to seek reelection in next year’s elections.
“Before he devotes all his time to politics, Senator Dick Gordon should take care of more important matters first. The Blue Ribbon report on ZTE-NBN should be a top priority for him,” said de Venecia.
De Venecia said he wanted to remind Gordon to think carefully about his version of the final report. “As a lawyer, he should know better. I was the whistleblower and my proposal was aboveboard. More importantly, I am a private citizen, not a government official like himself. The Ombudsman can only run after government officials.”
De Venecia added that Gordon has had prior experience on being charged before the Ombudsman. During Gordon’s term as head of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, he was charged with malversation of public funds in excess of P800 million after the Commission on Audit disallowed with finality his various cash advances.
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