A BEVY OF CONSULTANTS

The entire time Neri was with NEDA, his consultants proved to be a thorny issue. A case in point was the more than P20,000-salary he was able to wangle for his driver, which the NEDA staff considered scandalous. The average pay of drivers at NEDA at the time was only pegged at P8,000 to P10,000 a month. But Neri was able to justify the amount, and to which the Civil Service Commission consented, by changing the driver's terms of reference (TOR) to one of a “consultant on confidential matters.” 

While already at CHED, Neri had asked NEDA for the renewal of contracts of technical consultants who were all assigned to him when he was director general. He specifically requested that lawyers Paul P. Lentejas and Heraldo A. Dacayo Jr., Engr. Arsenio D. Mesiona, Tomas B. Eizaguirre, and Antonio S. Manalo be detailed to CHED by extending the memorandum of agreement between the two agencies. Neri claimed the extension was “necessary in order to ensure the continuity of the special assignments, such as, but not limited to the NEDA Productivity Enhancement Projects (PEP)” that he had initiated when he was still with NEDA.

Neri similarly requested for the assignment extension of four NEDA personnel — Lourdes C. Reyes (executive assistant), Felino I. Torsar (administrative aide VI), Antonio F. Enriquez (administrative aide III), and Antonio L. Alvarado (close-in security) — with his CHED office so they could provide him assistance. At the same time, he asked that the NEDA support vehicle, an Isuzu Crosswind, and three cellphone units the four NEDA staff were using be retained.

Out of courtesy to a former director general, NEDA acceded to extending the detail of all except his lawyers until March 30 this year. Neri had wanted another extension in anticipation of his return to NEDA in August but it appears there won't be any forthcoming as it puts the agency in a very awkward situation as far as the Commission on Audit is concerned. In fact, COA has already issued a notice, starting to question the propriety of the detail arrangement.

Because he tended to overlook employee relations, Neri was said to have left to his consultants the handling of matters, usually administrative or legal in scope, that had to do with staff concerns.

Relates Daiwey: “He let these consultants handle employee-related matters like the COLA (cost of living allowance) backpay, employee complaints (one such case involved a regional director accused of sexual harrassment), and other matters that had nothing to do with socioeconomic staff work.”

The NEDA staff would hear other names of consultants such as Rody Cruz, said to be a nephew of construction magnate Felipe F. Cruz, who is a close friend of Neri. The younger Cruz is alleged to be another of Neri's operators who is involved more in the execution phase of NEDA-approved contracts. Francis Chua, the former president of the influential Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and his son Brian were also reportedly close to him.

GOLFING BUDDIES

A peek into who Neri plays golf with at the exclusive Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong could also give clues as to who the fomer NEDA chief prefers to mingle with. Between December 10, 2006 and January 5 this year, Neri played golf 21 times usually during Saturday and Sunday. His regular playing partners were some of his consultants like Lozada, the Cruzes (Felipe and Rody), Army colonel Maximo Caro, Cesar Lacuna and a Col. Philip Cruz.

During that same period, Neri also played rounds of golf twice with businessman Donald Dee, and once with former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo, Rufino Javier (no confirmation if he was the former elections commissioner), Art Tuason, Joel Muyco, an E. Choa, a Dr. Lim, and a certain Estrella.

At past eight in the morning of December 29, 2006, he played golf with Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita as guests of Francisco Ortigas. On January 5 this year, shortly before noon, he played with broadcaster Rey Langit and Cerge Remonde, chief of the Presidential Management Staff.

Having consultants is not an issue, explains a senior director, pointing out that the NEDA Secretariat has had consultants all the time in different capacities and at different levels, especially when projects called for it.

But what is clear is that the practice had no precedent from the time of Monsod up to Canlas. Of NEDA's directors general, it was only Neri who hired consultants specifically for his office.

Monsod, who in her time saw no need for consultants as she relied solely on the expertise of the staff, does agree that as an agency, NEDA can hire consultants. But that privilege, she says, does not extend to the director general.

Cielito Habito, the socioeconomic planning secretary during the administration of Fidel Ramos, says he didn't even realize that the director general could hire that many consultants, much more hire consultants at all.

COMPROMISED COMMUNICATIONS

By relying on consultants like Lozada, the NEDA staff also point out that Neri did not maximize, and at times even bypassed, the NEDA Technical Secretariat which serves as the research and technical support of the NEDA Board.

During his NEDA watch, Neri allowed an unwieldy interplay of the official and unofficial actors and processes of policy, politics and patronage.

	WHAT'S IN A LETTER? Compare this letter (click here for a larger view) of Neri to Chinese ambassador Li Jinjun with his other official NEDA correspondences to Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza (here and here) and Jose 'Joey' de Venecia III), and spot the differences.

In the Senate hearings on the NBN-ZTE deal, Lozada, who was almost like Neri's alter ego, admitted that his job as consultant involved looking at the deal structure of proposed projects, or in Neri's own words, “moderating the greed” of project proponents both from the government and private sector.

This set-up, mid-level division heads argue, had a negative effect on the usual flow of information and decision-making critical to the institutional stability of NEDA. “It's hard for the NEDA Secretariat to own, defend decisions, positions or communications that did not pass through it,” they say.

There are indications that some “official” communications in connection with the NBN-ZTE deal and the cyber education project could be the handiwork of Neri's consultants and not of the NEDA staff. One such document is the letter of Neri to Chinese ambassador Li Jinjun bearing the supposed “FG” marginal note that Senator Jamby Madrigal mistook as the initials for “First Gentleman,” Arroyo's husband, as proof of his alleged involvement in the deal. (NEDA corrected the senator as her copy did not have the letter “I” after “FG” to signify the original endorsement for “FGI/PIS” referring to Florante G. Igtiben, chief of the Asia Pacific Division of the Public Investment Staff (PIS) that handles projects funded by China.)

Had the senator been more discerning, she could have examined the said letter and noted what were apparent discrepancies. For one, NEDA staff say, the letter was not written in the style of NEDA. The salutation part did not specifically address the ambassador using his title and surname. The use of the phrase “your undying support” at the end of the body of the letter was rather unusual. NEDA as spelled out lacked the word “and.” Even the leading, the space between lines of text, was not in accordance with NEDA official communications. Besides, it appeared to have been printed without using the official NEDA letterhead.

Moreover, the barcode at the bottom of the page indicated that the letter was received by the PIS, instead of having originated from it under normal circumstances. The letter was considered “official” only in the sense that it bore Neri's signature.