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The Bohol Chronicle

Former NEDA Head and current CHED chief Romulo "Romy" Neri of Bohol has been widely quoted for the now nationally famous line instruction to ZTE_NBN Consultant (now star witness) Jun Lozada to help "moderate their greed" in the scandalously overpriced broadband project by P 6.5-Billion.

Last week in a nationally televised and radio-hooked up interview by the Malacanang press corps, Neri condemned the Bayongan Dam (BHIP-2) as among those overpriced projects in the country whose greedy beneficiaries should be moderated. He had earlier quoted eloquently over ABS-CBN " Probe" public affairs program -heard nationwide- that (referring to Bayongan Dam) NIA was "authorized to buy a Toyota and bought a BMW instead" through that overpriced dam.

The NEDA Board approved the project at an original cost of P 1.463 Billion, increasing to P 2.284 Billion and finally to a final P 3.629-Billion. The project was described by NEDA as the "most expensive irrigation project" by NIA which was funded by the Japan Bank for international Cooperation (JBIC),

The NEDA found the request for additional funding would increase the cost of irrigating one hectare from P 300,000 (original) to P 684,000.The controversial irrigation project was also found to have proceeded with the project without first obtaining NEDA Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) approval of project cost over-run per the terms of the Official Development Assistance Act.

However, the DOJ through the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel in Opinion No 120 Series of 2007 dated June 27, 2007 declared that "the contracts for the construction of the Bohol irrigation Projects 11 are valid and legal."

In a recent visit to Bohol, Neri was asked regarding the controversial payment of the P 700-Million to Korean firm Hanjin Industries (contractor of the Bayongan Dam), he reluctantly said ' As Cabinet secretary, I am an alter ego of the President. I just follow orders.

In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle, the former NEDA secretary said that the President gave the "go signal" for the payment to cover the cost over-run even as the NEDA Project Evaluation Report showed a 52% increase of P 1.245-Billion.

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