After the Erap verdict comes the controversy over ZTE. We Filipinos love acronyms as evidence by our sari-sari stores, nicknames and jingles except when it involves an unknown entity called ZTE and involving millions of dollars in taxpayer’s money. It’s a totally different story or should we say mystery?

ZTE actually stands for Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Limited, a public traded company based in Shenzhen, China that provides telecommunications equipment and network solutions. It is the contractor nominated by the Chinese government to undertake the national broadband network project (“NBN project”) and not to be confused with NBN, the government television channel.

It first entered public consciousness when the documents for the project allegedly signed by top RP government officials and their Chinese counterparts were lost. Question: How can such high level paperwork involving huge funds and critical infrastructure simply disappear into thin air? Surely something must be amiss such that the documents had to be reconstituted. Question: Are the provisions the same ones?

The NBN project at a total cost of $329 million or roughly P15.5 billion pesos is supposed to provide national connectivity for a more efficient and effective governance and to reduce the cost of telecommunications expenses which stands at P4 billion pesos a year as of 2004. In theory, four years at P4 billion a year will already equal the project cost. Either we pay expenses annually or capitalize it at one go. The finance seems straightforward enough. Question: Why didn’t the project proponents sell the idea first, take notes and build support instead of ‘closing’ the deal in faraway middle kingdom?

The government needs an integrated electronic online network to bridge the digital divide between national agencies in urban centers and the 4th to 6th class municipalities. Right now, each government unit runs its own system if at all and does not even link to its regional and provincial offices. How many times have we heard of telephone lines cut off because bills could not be paid or told to just physically visit the office because the fax machine or leased line is down and the website not updated?

Question: If indeed the benefits are clear, why not open the market and declare it for public bidding? It is to everyone’s interest that the process be transparent and accountable. The ZTE proposal is unsolicited backed up with a loan from the Chinese government for 20 years at 3% annual interest with a 5-year grace period. By law, any person can put up what is called a ‘Swiss challenge’ to match or improve on the offer. Then all the proposals will be competitively evaluated.

Regardless of the eventual findings, it is time we aggregate the telecommunications demand of the biggest employer in the country to take advantage of economies of scale. Technology is a solution to red tape and bureaucratic attitude. When people communicate better through voice, video and data means, culture is changed. It is the private companies now that run the communications backbone. A working republic requires a secure network that is not operated for profit or for commercial purposes and over which it has control.

With the recent scare stories on Chinese products, we wonder if it does not extend to telecoms and broadband network. Even with our penchant for acronyms, the NBN project of ZTE or ETZ or any mumble jumble of letters creates serious doubt as to the credibility of the supplier or contractor. Imagine if it was rather Nokia or Sony. The steamy details on how the project came to be and tales of threats and bribery do not help our quest for good governance – the merits and demerits of a national government broadband network still have to be debated.

In the meantime, the Supreme Court has stepped in once more as the final arbiter. Question: How many times have our courts intervened to sort issues and to pronounce judgments on a host of technical, social and political issues between the executive, the legislative and everybody else? Must it always be this way for major plans and programs that purportedly seek only to make life a bit better for the Filipino?