ALLIANCE OF CONCERNED TEACHERS
2/F Teachers’ Center, Mines St. cor. Dipolog St. , Bgy. VASRA, Quezon City , Philippines
Telefax  453-9116  Mobile 0920-9220817 Email  act_philippines@ yahoo.com Website  www.actphils. com
Member, Education International
February 11, 2008
NEWS RELEASE
Reference: Antonio L. Tinio (0920-9220817)
      ACT Chairperson
Teachers renew Arroyo resign call, start fund drive for ZTE star witness
Militant teachers today renewed their call for the resignation of President Gloria Arroyo in the wake of fresh revelations regarding the involvement of ranking administration officials and the president’s husband in the aborted national broadband network deal.
“The testimony of whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada, as well as Malacañang’s criminal attempt to suppress it, reveals once again that the Arroyo government is rotten to the core,” said Alliance of Concerned Teachers chairperson Antonio Tinio. “Mrs. Arroyo should resign now, because our people want an end to the corruption scandals and cover-ups perpetrated by this administration.”
Lozada’s testimony before the Senate corroborated the earlier revelations made by Joey De Venecia regarding the involvement of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos in seeking a $130 million kickback on a contract for a national broadband network with the Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE.
“Like many ordinary citizens, we were outraged at this administration’ s brazen attempt to suppress the truth by abducting Jun Lozada from the airport upon his arrival last Tuesday,” said Tinio. “Lozada’s testimony revealed that Malacañang officials within Mrs. Arroyo’s personal circle had a direct hand in abducting him and in attempting to cover up the truth about the ZTE deal by making him sign an affidavit under duress.”
“We urge Mr. Lozada to file the appropriate criminal charges—such as kidnapping, and wiretapping, against DENR Secretary Lito Atienza, CHED chairman Romulo Neri, and others involved in the attempt to suppress his testimony. We also call on the Senate to likewise file charges against those Malacañang officials and operators for attempting to obstruct the Senate investigation into the ZTE scam,” added Tinio.
ACT called on the Senate and the public to subject the $460 million Cyber Education Project to close scrutiny following Lozada’s new revelations regarding overpricing in the ZTE deal. “The Cyber Education Project will be funded from the same loan package and subjected to the same conditionalities— i.e., tied loan awarded to a preferred contractor with no bidding. As we have seen in the ZTE contract, this set-up is prone to overpricing by the predatory brokers and sponsors within the Arroyo cabal. Cyber Ed is a perfect example of the ‘dysfunctional procurement sytem’ of government, in which projects are ‘supplier-driven’ rather than determined by the actual needs of the citizenry.”
The militant teachers lauded Lozada for testifying at the Senate hearing. “We laud Mr. Lozada for revealing what he knows in spite of the intense pressure exerted by the President’s minions and the grave threats to himself and his family,” said Tinio.
ACT announced that it would launch a fund drive called “Piso para kay Lozada, Piso para sa Katotohanan.” “We urge our fellow teachers as well as all concerned citizens to contribute one peso as a token of support for Jun Lozada’s courageous act. The money will go to a legal defense fund, which he will need given that the administration and its allies are going to retaliate by filing legal cases against him,” said Tinio.  #