Lozada urges Neri: Don't be the fall guy in ZTE

MANILA, Philippines - Rodolfo Lozada Jr., the Senate’s witness in the national broadband network (NBN) controversy, urged Social Security System (SSS) president Romulo Neri not to allow himself to be the fall guy of President Arroyo and her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

“My question to Romy Neri is this: Would you like to be offered before the altar of President Arroyo and the First Gentleman? Will he allow himself to be the sacrificial lamb?” Lozada asked yesterday.

Lozada told The STAR he had two things to say to Neri.

“First, I hope that he is smart enough not to allow himself to be the fall guy.

“Second, it is time to tell the truth about the conversation he had with GMA (President Arroyo) the night before the ZTE deal was approved... with GMA insisting that Romy (Neri) prepare the documents for the deal the following day, and how she told him (as then National Economic and Development Authority head) to recommend the approval of the deal.

“I want to remind him (Neri) that this is the incident that led him to make that famous comment that GMA was evil,” Lozada said.

Neri bared in a Senate hearing in 2007 that then Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos offered him P200 million in exchange for NEDA endorsement of the NBN deal with Chinese company ZTE Corp. during a golf game at Wack Wack.

The Ombudsman recommended the filing of graft charges against Neri and Abalos.

Lozada expressed fear that the First Gentleman would be able to evade the charges against him in connection with the NBN deal because the Office of the Ombudsman had exonerated him.

He said the Ombudsman’s decision was vague and it would be a challenge for presidential frontrunner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to run after the First Couple once he is proclaimed president.

The Office of the Ombudsman issued a resolution that was dated April 19 but only released last Wednesday that upheld the earlier ruling recommending the filing of criminal and administrative charges against Abalos and Neri for their alleged involvement in the controversial $329-million NBN-ZTE contract that was canceled by Mrs. Arroyo in 2007 after the disclosure of alleged bribery and anomalies.

The anti-graft prosecutors, however, absolved the First Gentleman of the same charges.

“Quite interestingly, the only memory that stands out during this meeting (at Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong) was (Mr.) Arroyo’s statement that (Jose) de Venecia (III) was told to back off from the project,” read the resolution.

“There is no other independent statement or source of evidence that the meeting was purposely availed of to allow (Mr.) Arroyo to influence the project.

“Thus, the panel continues to maintain the position that only surmises and conjectures have been presented to this panel for assessment. To be certain, this presumption cannot be given any weight.”

The Ombudsman stood firm on Neri’s six-month suspension.

Lozada said the Ombudsman’s confirmation of Neri’s six-month suspension might no longer affect him much because “he only has a little more than a month to go anyway” since Mrs. Arroyo would be stepping down on June 30 along with her appointees.

Lozada, former president of the Philippine Forest Corp. and consultant of the NEDA that Neri then headed, expressed hope that Neri will finally reveal what he knows about the deal.

“Ito na ang panahon na dapat talaga harapin ni Romy (Neri) ang katanungan na siya ba ang tatanggap ng lahat ng kasalanan dito? Malaking parte ng kasalanan kapalit ang katotohanan (This is the time for Romy to face the question if he will accept all the blame, a big part of the blame in exchange for the truth,” Lozada said during an interview over radio station dzBB.

Lozada said he and Neri remain good friends and that he is uncomfortable with the thought that he would testify in court against Neri.

Aquino hits clearing        of Mike Arroyo

Senator Aquino questioned the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman to dismiss the charges against the First Gentleman in connection with the NBN-ZTE contract.

“Am I impressed? Well, we’ll have to agree with the Ombudsman that as far as the President is concerned, the President is immune from suit while in office. That already says that once out of office, it’s a different ballgame altogether,” Aquino said.

“I think they (Abalos and Neri) by themselves would not be able to effect that whole transaction so I don’t think it is all-encompassing, nor does it put a total closure on the issue. So again that is part of our campaign promise, there will be closure and completion as much as possible on all of these issues. Some of them will need a little bit more time to resolve completely,” Aquino said.

Aquino said Abalos and Neri “would not have been able to secure all the necessary approvals to effect the deal.”

“Therefore the conspiracy has not been established completely and those who are responsible have not been identified and brought to the bar of justice. Those who are accused have an opportunity to clear their names but we need to have complete closure on it to prevent any future occurrences of the same,” Aquino said.

Aquino refused to speculate on the reason behind the filing of the charges at this time but noted the delay in the Ombudsman’s action.

“That has been a bone of contention by a lot of quarters with regard to the speed by which the Ombudsman completes its tasks. Some quarters have been decrying she has been very, very tardy,” Aquino said.

He added it was the same with the fertilizer fund scam involving former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante who is also a close friend of the First Gentleman.

“When the Ombudsman started investigating Mr. Bolante something like four years after the commission of the alleged fertilizer scam, I don’t think charges have been proffered against Mr. Bolante up to this time. After six years that is equivalent to a full term, we have the complete failure of justice,” he said.

Aquino said he had not yet spoken with Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and would like to check on the details of the case.

He said he could not determine yet if the First Gentleman would be able to run away from the case because re-opening the case against him would mean double jeopardy.

Aquino said under his administration, the rights of Mrs. Arroyo and her family would be protected if cases would be filed against them.

“As I did promise, we have to protect everybody’s rights and the true testament of a democracy, I hate to sound like a broken record, is the ability to defend the rights of your enemies. At this point we will make sure all the due processes are observed, all rights are religiously acknowledged and protected. But at the end of the day if the evidence points to certain directions, prosecutions will have to happen,” Aquino said.

Meanwhile, Malacañang reiterated yesterday that the President and her husband were already cleared of any involvement in the NBN-ZTE deal controversy even before the Ombudsman came out with its new resolution earlier this week.

Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said that Mrs. Arroyo was initially cleared in the Senate Blue Ribbon committee in its probe into the NBN-ZTE deal when it found no culpability on her part.

This was followed by a resolution by the Office of the Ombudsman on the issue, which found no evidence linking the President or the First Gentleman to the deal.

“This time, any court proceeding by its nature has to hold accusers to an even higher burden of proof than a Senate inquiry and so we are even more confident that the First Couple will again clear their names,” Olivar said.

Presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said that there was no reason to criticize the Palace on the resolution of the Ombudsman because it is an independent body that makes its own decisions.

“It is an independent action of the Ombudsman and the critics should probably direct their concerns and comments and questions to the Ombudsman,” Saludo said.

He noted that the government has always been very cooperative with the Ombudsman in its investigation into the NBN-ZTE issue and all other issues brought before them.

“It’s not a Palace decision,” Saludo said.

Ombudsman to bare evidence

The Office of the Ombudsman has four steel cabinets of documentary records and evidence to support the graft cases it will file against Abalos and Neri.

The anti-graft agency now needs to reproduce each and every complaint, affidavit, counter-affidavit, motion, and report before actually filing formal complaints before the Sandiganbayan.

Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus Jr. said records of the graft cases against Abalos and Neri for their alleged involvement in the controversial NBN-ZTE deal have literally filled four steel cabinets with four drawers each.

“This we need to reproduce for the court and the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP),” he told The STAR noting that simply filing the graft charges before the Sandiganbayan will not be enough because the Sandiganbayan and government lawyers who will handle the case need to appreciate the investigation conducted in its entirety.

De Jesus said records of the case include the voluminous Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Report on the NBN-ZTE, which was studied and considered by the five-man panel of the Ombudsman that conducted the probe.

Sister Mary John Mananzan, co-chairperson of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), said they are hoping that the new President would help reverse the dismissal of the charges against the First Gentleman in connection with the NBN-ZTE deal.

Mananzan said that she is hoping that the next president, widely believed to be Senator Aquino, would be able to keep his promise and fight corruption.

“That was what he (Aquino) promised that he would change the system and that he would fight corruption. The Office of the Ombudsman is one of the hubs of corruption. We look forward to a President Noynoy administration,” said Mananzan.

Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, former Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, believes that there are other officials involved in the NBN-ZTE scandal.

In an interview with the CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the CBCP, Lagdameo said that while Abalos and Neri might have some level of participation in the aborted contract, it was also possible that they were getting “instructions” from someone more powerful than them.

“My question is from whom will Abalos and Neri receive commands? For me, it seems that they were only instrumental,” Lagdameo said. 

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. believes that the belated action of the Ombudsman on the NBN deal is a “partial peace offering to the new administration” by the outgoing Arroyo administration.

Sen. Edgardo Angara said the Senate Blue Ribbon Report and the Ombudsman’s ruling are two different positions on the NBN issue.

“They served two different purposes. The Ombudsman is for prosecution, and that’s their entire sole task. The public investigation is within the realm of the Senate, including the Blue Ribbon (which) is primarily for law making,” Angara explained.

Sen. Richard Gordon said that the President and the First Gentleman should have been told by the Ombudsman to explain their roles in the NBN deal. With Michael Punongbayan, Evelyn Macairan, Marvin Sy, Alexa Villano, Christina Mendez