I don’t mind if Romulo Neri confirms or denies that he called Gloria Arroyo “evil.”  At this point, annotations on GMA’s morality are irrelevant.  In fact, almost every opinion on GMA being embroiled in the biggest scandal to rock the country is rendered irrelevant: it seems to me that people just don’t care anymore.

Apathy is evil.  If by now you still have nothing to say about the NBN-ZTE fiasco… connect the dots.

Benny Areola, a TV personality here in Baguio City, says, “Evil triumphs if good people do nothing.”  This is exactly what Mr. Neri did: he did absolutely nothing to confirm or deny a hand in the NBN-ZTE deal.  Right now, Mr. Neri’s possible testimony is all that stands between Lozada’s word and justice.

I would, like John Nery in today’s issue of PDI, hazard to guess why Mr. Neri refuses to talk about the NBN deal: it’s because Mr. Neri is a man with nothing to gain, and everything to lose, if he speaks out against the President.  Mr. Neri’s silence over the issue is something I could understand: had he done things like his friend Jun Lozada, he would have faced the very grim possibility of being kicked out of Administration circles, effectively losing his job in the process.

While Sen. Alan Cayetano could get away with his rather showbiz-zy ad-libbing in the NBN-ZTE hearings, Mr. Neri cannot: without a job, without political clout, and his name being dragged along the proverbial septic tank of corruption, saying anything at all about the NBN-ZTE deal will probably spell doom.  John Nery is right: among many Malacañang insiders, Mr. Neri is considered the “weakest link.”  Silence, right now, is golden.

But if Mr. Neri rises up to say something – anything at all – to clarify the NBN-ZTE issue, then he should do so the soonest.  I can’t say I will support whatever he says, but right now, that’s one thing we all need.

Evil triumphs if people – in this case Romulo Neri – do nothing.

   I have no qualms with people like former Rep. Prospero Pichay, who is a staunch defender of the President.  Just as well, I hope that they understand people like me who grind axes against the President.  But what really bugged me today is that Mr. Pichay, in a press conference broadcast over NBN this afternoon, said that we should even be “thankful” that President Arroyo cancelled the NBN-ZTE deal: to him, the deal never happened in the first place.

   While I agree that the government should focus on “more important things,” NBN-ZTE falls under that general category.  While government officials can vehemently deny the existence of meetings and talks with one Jun Lozada, they really can’t deny that NBN-ZTE existed.  That is plain and simple kalokohan: a sick joke.  This is not the time to sing praises to Gloria Arroyo for having very few words to say about NBN-ZTE.

   GMA’s silence on the NBN-ZTE fiasco bothers me: to be honest, it is nothing short of kalokohan.  Silence may be golden, but the last person I expect to keep mum on the NBN-ZTE issue is the President herself.  If my memory serves me right, the National Broadband Network was her pet project a couple of SONA’s ago.  She, along with First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, seems to be the common denominator to the story, taking the testimonies of Lozada and Joey de Venecia into consideration.  In most other places, we would have let go of Lozada by now and we would invite the President over for an idle chit-chat in the Senate, or perhaps sent her a subpoena.

   Kalokohan, that the Senate didn’t even think of doing that.  Plain and simple kalokohan.