Conspiracy angle eyed

MANILA, Philippines – The supposed taped conversation between Senate witnesses Jose de Venecia III and Rodolfo Noel  Lozada Jr. on YouTube is “obviously a fabrication” that  proves  the two are in “on a conspiracy,” the  lawyer of former elections chairman Benjamin Abalos said yesterday.

“Being at a loss as to how they will support their accusation against Abalos, Lozada and Joey de Venecia have conspired to tape a fake conversation between them to support their lies,” said lawyer Salvador Panelo.

“Evidently, they are now engaged in acts of desperation that will eventually place them behind bars. It is an afterthought and malicious invention of and fabricated by Joey de Venecia and Lozada to make it appear that Abalos demanded $130 million commission.”

Panelo said that they are looking into how they can file criminal cases of oral defamation against De Venecia III and Lozada for allegedly uploading the taped conversation on the Internet.

“If the taped conversation is genuine, they should have produced that tape four months ago during the first Senate hearing and the subsequent hearings,” he said.

“Moreover, the tape that they should produce is a taped conversation between Abalos and Joey de Venecia or between Abalos and Lozada confirming the $130-million commission allegedly demanded by Abalos.

“It’s easiest to fabricate a taped phone conversation between two conspirators, while it’s impossible to fake a taped conversation between Abalos and De Venecia, or between Abalos and Lozada for obvious reasons.”