Cyberbaguioboy

Part two of a six-part special report on the NBN controversy on INQUIRER.net.

Excerpt:

THE National Broadband Network (NBN) project was a glaring example of the existence of brokers and consultants, how much they get, and how they skirt government procurement laws.

“This is how government is buying projects. Institutionally, the procurement system of government does not really work because the procurement system is being decided by people like us. I’m not even part of it,” Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada said during his testimony in a Senate investigation, as he explained how a “dysfunctional procurement” system in the country could lead to anomalies and irregularities in multi-billion projects.

His mere involvement in the project was already irregular and suspect. Based on the account of former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, the project went through the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) process, which involved a technical board evaluating the financial and technical viability of the project.