EDITORIAL — Bare the details

For an administration that insists it has nothing to hide, too many documents are missing and too many officials are being kept from revealing crucial information. The national broadband network deal with ZTE Corp. of China has been aborted and Benjamin Abalos has resigned as chairman of the Commission on Elections, and still the public has not seen a copy of whatever it was that was signed with ZTE in Boao, China by Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza in the presence of President Arroyo.

It’s a strange government that does not keep copies of official documents, especially one that involves a $329-million project with funding to be sourced from a foreign loan that Filipino taxpayers must repay. Apart from official documents with a disturbing tendency to disappear, public officials are also prevented both by Malacañang and administration allies at the Senate from filling in the missing pieces of the puzzle in a controversial deal where national interest is at stake.

Now comes another controversy over a deal that some quarters suspect might have marked the start of all the scandals that are currently under investigation. Anti-administration forces suspect that Beijing committed official development assistance of $2 billion a year until 2010 to Manila, from which the Philippines could source financing for projects such as the broadband deal and the Southrail and Northrail projects, after the Philippine government approved joint oil exploration between the two countries in the Spratly island chain, which includes areas claimed by the Philippines.

The administration is insisting that all that was signed was a Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking, with Vietnam later joining in. If oil is found, the administration said as it defended the JMSU, actual exploration would require a new agreement.

The best way to prove that the JMSU is aboveboard is to present it to the public for scrutiny, complete with a map of the area to be covered by the seismic study. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita vowed last Tuesday that details of the JMSU would be bared “at the appropriate time.” That could mean some time after noon of June 30, 2010, or after the Supreme Court issues a final ruling on the latest controversy, which is bound to be brought to the high tribunal. That’s transparency, as defined by this administration.