'ZTE probe findings out this month'

MANILA, Philippines - The Office of the Ombudsman will release before the end of the month the results of its investigation into the canceled $329-million national broadband network (NBN) contract between the government and Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus Jr. said the panel tasked to conduct the probe would issue a resolution soon.

“We’re looking at end of February at the earliest, or March 2009 at the latest,” he told The STAR.

He said that unless “any unforeseen development that may compel the panel to move such issuance to another day” crops up, the Office of the Ombudsman would have its report and recommendations ready for review and final evaluation.

The resolution will also be submitted to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez for approval, like the investigation on the so-called fertilizer fund scam involving former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante.

“This is so far the status of the case,” De Jesus, chief of the Preliminary Investigation and Administrative Adjudication and Monitoring Office (PAMO), said.

Lawyer Ernesto Francisco, in an urgent motion, called on the Office of the Ombudsman to complete its probe and issue a decision on whether or not there is probable cause to indict First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos, who were both implicated in the NBN-ZTE anomaly that involved the alleged bribery of officials and overpricing of the NBN project.

Francisco, a complainant in the case, said it has been almost one year since the NBN-ZTE controversy was exposed and “needless to state, it is now high time for the Office of the Ombudsman to resolve the instant case.”

“Moreover, the need to immediately resolve the preliminary investigation of the case now is made more imperative by the fact that based on news reports, one of the aforesaid respondents, Atty. Jose Miguel T. Arroyo, has again been tagged as one of those involved in collusive practices among contractors bidding for government projects,” Francisco noted.

Francisco said the case is only in the stage of preliminary investigation on determination of probable cause which is simply “the existence of such facts and circumstances as would excite the belief, in a reasonable mind, acting on the facts within the knowledge of the prosecutor, that the person charged was guilty of the crime for which he was prosecuted.”

“It is merely based on opinion and reasonable belief. Thus, a finding of probable cause does not require an inquiry into whether there is sufficient evidence to procure a conviction. It is enough that the act or omission complained of constitutes the offense charged. Precisely, there is trial for the reception of evidence of the prosecution to support the charge,” he said.

He believes that based on the evidence presented so far, the Office of the Ombudsman has more than sufficient basis to find probable cause against Mr. Arroyo and Abalos for violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.