SENATOR Ramon S. Guerrero is claiming that the letter recently sent by the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication to the Federal Communications Commission on the purchase of Verizon was not the official position of the panel, but this was denied by the committee chairman himself.
Guerrero is also alleging that Adam Turner, one of the governor’s special assistants, “pressured” lawmakers, which Turner denied.
Recently, the PUTC committee chaired by Sen. Diego M. Songao, Covenant-Rota, sent a petition to the FCC similar to the letter sent by six members of the House of Representatives, urging the commission to deny the proposal of a consortium that includes Citadel Corp. and Tan Holdings to purchase Verizon’s local franchise.
In a June 21 letter to Songao, Guerrero said Turner could have influenced the committee’s decision to send a petition to the FCC identical to the executive branch and the House’s position. But Turner said he merely provided information to the lawmakers.
“The issues discussed namely rate integration, foreign ownership of a vital utility and the lack of information was raised by the (lawmakers) themselves,” Turner said.
Guerrero said the Senate committee wanted to ask the FCC to extend the application period for the consortium.
“The…committee has not yet been fully briefed and has not voted on this issue, but I’m assuming that you may have received pressure by the administration to submit some testimony,” said Guerrero, American Reform-Saipan, in his letter to Songao.
He added: “I can see a conflict of interest in how members of the Legislature were pressured by…Mr. Adam Turner…to act before we have really ample opportunity to study this issue.”
But Turner also denied that there was a conflict of interest. He said he was just invited to attend a meeting of the committee and the position taken by the members “were theirs.”
“I respect the right of Chairman Songao to review the sale and formulate whatever opinion he has. The administration never discussed the matter with the chairman. We totally respect his jurisdiction over these matters,” he said.
Songao, in a separate interview yesterday, defended Turner. He said the committee’s decision “was not in anyway influenced by Turner.”
“I asked Mr. Turner to provide us information on the Verizon purchase deal. But we ourselves decided on what we should do. Our Senate legal counsel, Tony Cabrera can prove that,” he said.
