Senator Loren Legarda yesterday said she hopes there is closure to the Senate ZTE-National broadband deal hearings soon and if evidence proves that money really changed hands, charges should be filed against those involved regardless of their position.

This could lead to resignations or impeachment, she said.

But Legarda, who was in Bacolod City, said she is opposed to succession by Vice President Noli de Castro, saying she believes the people would rather have snap elections to have a clean slate in the top leadership of the country.

Legarda said she will not support the ouster of  President Gloria Arroyo through unconstitutional means, and believes that it is premature to call for her resignation now as it would be prejudging the results of the Senate hearings.

She said it is difficult to say whether Arroyo will stay as president until 2010 with one scandal after the other hounding her administration.

“There is a need to reform the whole corrupt system. People are just sick and tired of being poor, and sick and tired of being robbed,” she said.

But she said she would have to withhold her comment on whether there was enough proof to directly link the president to corruption in the NBN-ZTE deal until she sees all the evidence presented.

DE CASTRO TAINTED

Legarda said while she believes in Constitutional succession, de Castro is not a legitimate successor because he is also tainted by the same fraud that occurred in the 2004 elections.

“I believe in Constitutional succession but it only applies to legitimate successors, for those tainted with the same fraud there is no legitimacy,” she said.

The root of all the troubles hounding the Arroyo administration is the issue of mandate, when you don’t have a legitimate mandate you’ll have difficulty governing, she said.

“De Castro is not a legitimate successor because he has fraud in his hands,” she said.

“If we want honest change now which is what the country needs and deserves we should have a clean slate through snap elections. If it would be allowed constitutionally, I think that’s what the people want,” she said.

CLOSURE

Legarda said closure is needed soon on the ZTE-NBN hearings so that the senators can study the evidence and make recommendations.

She said there is much truth to what Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada is saying but she also wants to see the documentary evidence to come up with her conclusions.

While Senate investigations are held in aid of legislation, Legarda said the matter of ZTE-NBN deal should not just end there, if there is enough evidence we must have strong recommendations for immediate prosecution.

We have to have concrete results based on documentary evidence and an honest to goodness assessment of the testimonies, she said.

Charges should then be filed and swift justice should be sought, she said.

It  is important that we exhaust all existing  laws to prosecute the corrupt at the soonest  possible time  because  if we let this pass then corruption will be a way of life in the Philippines, she said.

We have to set an example and prosecute whoever is involved, she said.

LOZADA RALLIES

As to Lozada’s speaking at rallies around the country, Legarda said “any peaceful assembly is acceptable. Any proper ventilation of anger and disappointment is good rather than keeping it inside us.”

She also stressed that witnesses, irregardless of who they are, must stick to the truth that is unadulterated, non-politicized and with no vested interests.

“Now that things are so heated politically it is difficult to discern which is which,” she said.

SPRATLYS

Legarda said another Senate hearing could be held on the government’s controversial Joint Marines’ Seismic Undertaking with China and Vietnam in the Spratlys.

“I cannot make a judgment until I read the fine print of document,” she said.

Legarda was in Bacolod for a visit to Gov. Joseph Marañon who is ill. She said the governor’s son, Sagay Councilor Joseph Gerard Marañon, is a  good friend and she owes the governor a lot for making her the number one senator in Negros Occidental in the last election.*CPG

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