Senate may include Spratlys in ZTE probe Mañalac denies here a witness

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate joint panel investigating the scrapped $329-million national broadband network deal might also tackle the details of the controversial joint seismic agreement between China and the Philippines once the NBN inquiry resumes tomorrow, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. said yesterday.

Villar did not discount this possibility following reports that the former Philippine National Oil Corp. (PNOC) president Eduardo Mañalac is testifying in the next Senate hearing.

However, Mañalac denied yesterday he is the new Senate witness on the alleged NBN scam.

“I have never been involved in any conversation involving the ZTE investigations, do not know any ZTE details, large or small, other than what I read in the papers or watch on television, and have never been called by the Senate or any other group to talk about issues regarding the matter,” he said in a statement.

Villar said he will discuss with other senators and get a consensus possibly in a caucus today to determine if Mañalac gets to testify in Tuesday’s 12th hearing on the NBN-ZTE deal.

“We will discuss this but I think the Senate can look into Mañalac’s testimony if indeed he is going to the Senate. He can clarify the Spratlys deal as part of the continuing investigation of the NBN-ZTE loan agreement,” Villar said in an interview over radio dzBB.

The Senate has yet to forward the resolutions calling for the investigation of the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) in the disputed Spratly Islands forged by the Philippines, China, and Vietnam, to the proper committees.

Critics of the administration claimed that the JMSU is a “sellout” by the government for allowing China to explore for oil deposits in areas being claimed by the Philippines in the Spratly Islands and even in areas covered by Philippine territorial waters which could violate the Constitution.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said he would reserve comment on Manalac’s possible testimony until the Spratlys deal is referred to a specific committee while opposition Sen. Francis Escudero said the Spratlys deal can be tackled in the NBN hearing but only when connection is established (between the JSMU and NBN) in the hearing itself.

Escudero said the Spratlys deal should be taken up either by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee or the committee on foreign relations. 

A check on the background of Mañalac revealed that he is a close ally of ousted Speaker Jose de Venecia, who had endorsed Mañalac’s appointment to the PNOC when he was still speaker.

Mañalac, who reportedly has deep contacts in China, favored the JSMU even if the undertaking may have had conflict with an existing contract awarded by the Department of Energy to a British firm for another oil exploration in Palawan, sources said.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson told dzBB  yesterday that Mañalac is different from the new witness who has direct knowledge on how the $41-million advances were made to the so-called Greedy Group Plus Plus that is composed of Filipino representatives of ZTE Corp. The group reportedly include businessmen Leo San Miguel, Ruben Reyes, retired police general Quirino dela Torre, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos and Abalos’ chief-of-staff Jimmy Paz.

“As far as I am concerned, I have not personally talked to Mañalac but I know, based from the documents of the PNOC and the CNOOC, that he was the signatory to the JSMU,” Lacson said. CNOOC stands for China National Offshore Oil Corp., which had struck the deal with the PNOC then headed by Manalac.

Lacson said the new witness (not Mañalac) has substantial knowledge on how the alleged $41-million advanced commissions changed hands, and how it was distributed among members of the Greedy Group.

Another Senate witness, Dante Madriaga, had linked President Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo to the $130-million commission from the NBN-ZTE deal, which was said to have been used in the 2007 elections.

Lacson warned the Palace henchmen against misleading the public or the Senate during its probe of the Spratlys deal because he has copies of the contracts signed by Mañalac as PNOC president and Philippine government representative and his counterpart at the CNOOC.

Meanwhile, Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. expressed support to Mañalac.

Speaking to reporters after the Mass for Truth at the De La Salle University in Manila, Lozada hinted that Mañalac could be a credible witness.

“Yes, I know him (Mañalac) personally. We met at Wack Wack (golf and country club). If he volunteered to testify then I think he will tell the truth,” Lozada stressed.

“He is a good man. He was well-placed in the government so I think he knows something important,” he added. – With Edu Punay