Mainland-funded projects worth US$2.45 billion have been suspended by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo following a bribery scandal that scuttled a US$329 million telecommunications deal with ZTE Corp, the mainland's top listed telecommunications equipment maker. In a statement yesterday, ZTE denied wrongdoing and re-affirmed that it would continue operating in the Philippines. The three projects in the pipeline, to be financed by the mainland's official development assistance or ODA programme, were put on hold pending a review by a five-man special committee formed by Mrs Arroyo. Mrs Arroyo stressed that 'even as we defer the said projects, this should not be construed as a precedent for every disgruntled project proponent and his backers to undermine undertakings that comply with the law and benefit the nation.' Despite the mainland's eagerness to extend aid, Manila tapped only US$460 million worth of concessional loans from Beijing for the whole of 2006, or a mere 5 per cent of the total aid borrowed from other countries and foreign multilateral institutions that same year, according to the National Economic Development Authority. The China Projects Oversight Panel would ensure 'transparency' in order to avoid the bruising controversy that hounded the approval of the ZTE contract, said Cerge Remonde, chief of the presidential management staff who sits on the panel. From the start, the panel has its plate full reviewing three big controversial projects. One is the department of education's US$450 million Cyber-Education Project with Tsing Hua University that aims to broadcast lectures by the best teachers to the remotest village schools via satellite. It has been criticised as overlapping with the pet project of the department of transportation and communications, the now-cancelled ZTE deal that would have linked all government offices through a broadband network. Two other suspended projects are farm lease agreements worth US$2 billion with Jilin Fuhua and Beidahuang to plant hybrid rice and corn, sorghum and other crops on about 1.2 million hectares, for export to the mainland. Both came under heavy criticism from left-wing farmers' groups and the clergy. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called for an immediate review of the environmental effect of hybrid grains last month. CBCP vice-president and Archbishop Antonio Ledesma called for full transparency. Top Philippine chief executives, who have pinned their hopes on Beijing, quietly sent a letter to its embassy in Manila praising the mainland government for assuring 'transparency' in future business transactions.