MANILA, Philippines -- Last Tuesday’s Senate hearings, the 12th on the ZTE national broadband network (NBN) issue, lasted over 10 hours, during which allegations and counter-allegations flew between new “surprise witness” Leo San Miguel and three earlier witnesses, namely, his former employee Dante Madriaga, Rodolfo Lozada and Joey de Venecia III. 

But beyond the exchange very little would stand in a court of law, making many people, including Senators Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo and Juan Ponce Enrile, feel it’s time to wind up those hearings, so that the Senate could attend to more pressing issues like the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, the need to define once and for all the Philippines’ territorial boundaries before the May 2009 deadline set by the United Nations, and food security.

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