FG, Abalos have 15 days to comment on bribery case

MANILA, Philippines – The special panel of the Office of the Ombudsman investigating seven criminal complaints related to the canceled $329-million national broadband network (NBN) contract between the government and the Chinese firm ZTE Corp. gave yesterday the respondents in the cases 15 days to comment on the testimonies of key witnesses in the bribery case.

Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus Jr., spokesman for the anti-graft office, said their secretariat has already sent the order to the lawyers of former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, who were named respondents in NBN-related graft charges being investigated by the Ombudsman.

Abalos was accused of graft in six of the seven cases, while Mr. Arroyo was implicated in four cases.

The respondents were given copies of affidavits of witnesses businessman Jose de Venecia III, Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., and Dante Madriaga affirming their testimonies made in the Senate inquiry.

“We gave them 15 days from receipt to file their comment on the affidavits. They could seek extension and if we see that their grounds are valid, we can then give them five more days,” De Jesus explained.

He said they were not given any deadline to complete the preliminary investigation on the NBN complaints “but the general rule for us here is to resolve cases, whether controversial or not, as soon as possible.”   – Edu Punay