Money is not just in IT

It’s a given that there is money in IT. That may be true but apparently there is a bit more if you have a career in government. The recent ZTE-NBN scandal points to the fact that there is money not just in IT.

A project proposal is essential to justify any undertaking. Cost benefit analysis is useful tool for evaluating the feasibility of a project. Given this, it is funny that in the project proposal for the ZTE deal, the telecom expense of the government was obtained from a tabloid. Ideally, it should have been more accurate had information been obtained from the government and not from a tabloid. It makes me wonder whether information from a project proposal is accurate or is it used as a justification for a bloated project cost. It is possibly a common practice, even in business, to add to the cost in order to cover for unexpected expenses. However, such is not the case in the ZTE-NBN deal and this was seen in the testimony of Jun Lozada. In this case, the overpricing could have been a tool to cover the commissions for government officials.

During the Senate hearing, he revealed an alleged $130 Million commission or kickback, which is a rather large commission. Sadly, the testimony of Jun Lozada did not only reveal corruption and kickbacks but suggested that common practice permits “moderate” kickbacks. How could any amount of kickback be okay? Unfortunately it appears that in government it is an acceptable practice to receive kickbacks.

This new development would definitely prompt more investigations. The problem with government investigation is whether or not there will be any action resulting thereafter. Would anyone be held accountable? It is more likely that after public indignation has died down that our government officials would move on to the next controversial issue.

Would any investigation be totally impartial? Will it cover all the necessary personalities? Probably not. In a news article (see http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=108488), the DOJ Secretary already said that some personalities mentioned by Lozada would not be summoned. In the article it was mentioned that FG Arroyo will not be summoned. Well, some may say that how can such an investigation be thorough? The people that would be summoned are: Lozada, Joey de Venecia and Romulo Neri. Well, in fairness to the DOJ it may only be a preliminary list and they would summon additional witnesses if the need arises.