Press Release
February 10, 2008

THERE'S ENOUGH GROUND TO CHARGE ABALOS WITH GRAFT
IN THE ZTE-NBN DEAL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the testimony of telecommunications engineer Rodolfo Lozada, Jr. on the ZTE-national broadband network scandal has bolstered the graft and corruption charges against former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos who brokered the grossly overpriced project.

Pimentel urged Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to go ahead with the criminal prosecution of Abalos and not sleep on the case as was done in the graft case filed against the former Comelec chief by the Akbayan party-list group last year.

Testifying before the Blue Ribbon Committee, Trade and Commerce Committee and Defense Committee last Friday, Lozada, who resigned as President of the Philippine Forest Corporation, revealed that the NBN contract awarded to China's ZTE Corp. was originally priced at $264 million, of which half or $130 million represented Abalos' commission.

Lozada, who evaluated the ZTE project proposal as consultant of then National Economic and Development Authority Director General Romulo Neri, said he was shocked upon learning that the cost of the contract had ballooned to $329 million when it was signed by Philippine and Chinese government officials in April 2007.

He corroborated an earlier testimony of businessman Jose de Venecia III, majority owner of the losing bidder Amsterdam Holdings Inc. that the ZTE-NBN deal was grossly disadvantageous to the government and onerous to the Filipino people.

"Lozada is more than credible in his testimony given the fact that he spilled the beans about the anomalies surrounding the broadband contract despite the death threats he has been receiving. I have no reason to doubt that what he revealed about the deal is true," Pimentel said.

Pimentel said Lozada did a patriotic and courageous act by deciding to come out and unravel the sordid truth behind the ZTE-NBN deal unmindful of the tremendous risks to his life.

"Indeed, heroes are not only those who ride white chargers and plunge headlong into enemy ranks. The likes of Lozada, who stands up for what is right even in fear, is one," he said.

"Since what Lozada said was a corroboration of the young De Venecia's testimony and that of Neri, we can say there is already probable cause to file a graft compliant against Abalos and his accomplices."

Pimentel said Abalos' resignation as Comelec Chairman at the height of the broadband scandal last year does not spare him from his criminal liability.

"It's about time that the Ombudsman acts on the case and show that she is not protecting anyone," he said.

"Lozada's testimony affirms Neri's testimony about the irregularities in the transaction and gives the Ombudsman enough ground to sue Abalos for graft. His resignation will not give him legal respite until he has a chance in court to clear his soiled name."

The minority leader noted that Lozada also appeared to have corroborated the claim of De Venecia that Abalos had allegedly received a partial payment of his commission.

Lozada said he and De Venecia were present when ZTE executives angrily complained to Abalos, during a dinner meeting at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel in September 2006 why it was taking too long for the Arroyo government to approve the company's project proposal despite the payment of the commission in advance.

The star witness also confirmed De Venecia's allegation that Abalos offered a P200 million bribe to Neri in exchange for the approval of the ZTE proposal by the NEDA-Investment Coordinating Committee.

Pimentel said Lozada provided the "missing link" to the jigsaw puzzle on why President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo turned around on her position to have the broadband project pursued through the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme in favor of the proposal being pushed by Abalos that would be funded by a loan from China' Export-Import.

He said this was also a direct contravention of Arroyo's much-vaunted policy to refrain from incurring additional borrowings to lessen the debt burden.

News Latest News Feed