Falling-out
The elder De Venecia had a falling-out with Malacañang after failing to stop his son from testifying before the Senate on the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corporation.
The younger De Venecia heads one of the companies that lost the bidding for the allegedly rigged and overpriced NBN deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp.
The NBN project is a $329-million contract that aims to connect government agencies throughout the Philippines through the Internet.
The deal was signed in Boao, China on April 21, 2007 – when the government was not allowed to sign contracts because of the then-upcoming senatorial and local elections. It has become controversial for allegedly being overpriced and for supposedly having been signed without going through the proper bidding process. It was also deemed disadvantageous to the country because it was to be financed through a loan from China when, in fact, it could have been done at no cost to the government through a “Build-Operate-Transfer” scheme.
The younger De Venecia, co-founder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. which is one of the losing bidders in the NBN deal, accused former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos of offering him $10 million in exchange for backing out of the NBN deal – an accusation the former Comelec chief denied. He also testified that during his meeting with Abalos, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo arrived and pointed a finger at his face telling him to “back off” from the deal.
In a privileged speech on Aug. 29, 2007, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla said it was Abalos who brokered the deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp. Padilla also said Abalos was seen playing golf with ZTE officials in Manila and Shenzen. He also accused Abalos of receiving money and women in exchange for brokering the NBN deal.
As controversy built up over the NBN deal, reports also went rife that Abalos had bribed or tried to bribe a number of government officials – including then National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri – in exchange for approving or supporting the approval of the project.
Neri, in a Senate investigation, confirmed that Abalos had offered him P200 million ($4.33 million at last year’s average exchange rate of $1:P46.15) – a revelation that provoked public indignation leading the latter to resign from his Comelec post.
Enter Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, a telecommunications engineer and former president of the Philippine Forest Corporation, who served as Neri’s technical consultant for the NBN deal. He not only confirmed that the NBN contract was overpriced by $130 billion: he also confirmed Abalos’ involvement as a supposed broker in the deal, as well as the bribe attempt on Neri. He went a step further and disclosed that Abalos was frequently calling up presidential spouse Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo in the course of the bidding and deliberations on the NBN project.
Besides these, Lozada said, it was standard practice to overprice government projects by 20 percent. The overprice on the NBN deal is so far the biggest under the Arroyo administration, whose list of overpriced projects includes the Call Centers in State Universities project (P575 million, or $12.46 million based on last year’s average exchange rate, in “unaccounted” funds), the President Diosdado Macapagal Avenue project (overpriced by P536 million or $10.51 million at the 2001 average exchange rate of $1:P50.99), the Cyber Education project, the IMPSA deal, and the Comelec counting machines.
Lozada’s testimonies came in the same week that the elder De Venecia was ousted from the House Speakership and replaced by staunch Malacañang ally Davao Rep. Prospero Nograles.
Grounds
Among the grounds cited against Arroyo in the new impeachment complaint is the overpriced NorthRail Project, which largely involved a $400-million loan from China’s Export-Import Bank. It was De Venecia who was in charge of syndicating the loan.
Other grounds involving corruption, which were cited in the complaint are the NBN deal, the ZTE-Mt. Diwalwal mining contract, and the fertilizer scam. The alleged distribution of cash gifts amounting to half a million pesos to congressmen and local officials at Malacañang in October 2007, the so-called “Hello Garci” controversy, and human rights violations were also cited.
“De Venecia will be a central figure in the deliberations by the Justice Committee,” Ocampo said. “He knows about Arroyo’s involvement (especially in the corruption issues) because he was there.”
House Minority Leader and San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, for his part, said De Venecia is the most credible witness against Arroyo. “The most credible witness is someone who would speak on what he knows because he was there,” Zamora said in a press conference on Nov. 12.
The Philippines has seen the yearly filing of impeachment complaints against Arroyo since 2005. The grounds had covered almost all impeachable offenses: bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.
These complaints, however, were invariably thrown out by the administration-dominated House of Representatives due to sheer technicality.
Ocampo, however, is optimistic that this year’s impeachment complaint could stand a better chance at moving forward compared to the earlier ones, with De Venecia not only as endorser but also as witness to a number of the allegations against Arroyo. (Bulatlat.com)
