Tingog.com

It’s been a busy day for the Supreme Court. They have decided to allow media access during the Estrada Verdict as well as having issued a Temporary Restraining Order on the now notorious NBN deal.

The Supreme Court decided to allow a constrained form of media access during the Estrada Plunder Case verdict. They have given the following conditions:

1. Only the video camera of the Supreme Court - Public Information Office (SC-PIO) shall be allowed inside the courtroom at a place to be designated by the Presiding Justice of Sandiganbayan;

2. Only SC-PIO personnel shall be allowed to operate the video camera;

3. TV and radio stations shall be allowed to hook up with the video camera of the SC-PIO, and they shall, in turn, allow other stations to hook up with them;

4. The video camera shall focus only on the court personnel reading the Decision;

5. The live media coverage shall immediately cease after the reading of the Decision; and

6. The live media coverage shall, at all times, be under the control of the Presiding Justice

The one camera is enough, the important thing is that the actual delivery of the verdict should be in real time, since this is a matter of public importance, the Supreme Court clearly made the right decision, a decision that was not made by the Sandiganbayan, who earlier refused any media access.

Decision on NBN TRO

The Supreme Court also decided to grant a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) for the National Broadband Network contract between the Philippines and the Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

NOW, THEREFORE, effective immediately and continuing until further orders from this Court, You, Respondents

(i) National Economic and Development Authority,
(ii) NEDA-investment Coordination Committee,
(iii) Department of Transportation and Communications, Commission on Information and Communications Technology,
(iv) Telecomunications Office, Bids and Awards for Information and Communications Technology Committee (ICT),
(v) Technical Working Group For ICT, and all other of the DOTC for Information and Communications Technology,
(vi) ZTE Corporation;
(vii) Amsterdam Holdings, Inc., and
(viii) ARESCOM, Inc., and any and all person acting on their behalf

are hereby ENJOINED from ‘pursuing, entering into indebtedness, disbursing funds, and implementing the ZTE-DOTC Broadband Deal and Project; as prayed for.

The only thing that needs to be done is to actually see the contract itself. As we have said before, the rushed effort by this government to push this deal through, without so much as any ounce of transparency is very disconcerting. With so much money at stake ($330 Million), and without a proper bidding process, it seems that this deal has followed the same avenue as the much ridiculed JPEPA which the current Administration was also set to rush for approval.

tags: estrada trial, estrada verdict, joseph erap estrada, nbn deal