JDV testifies on NBN deal, confirms GMA lunch with ZTE execs

MANILA, Philippines - Former Speaker of the House Jose de Venecia Jr. confirmed yesterday that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos played golf and had lunch with ZTE officials in Shenzhen, China in November 2006.

De Venecia yesterday took the witness stand on the hearing of the graft case filed against Abalos before the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division.

Together with Abalos, graft cases were also earlier filed against Arroyo, who is now Pampanga representative, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo and former Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza in connection with the aborted $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal between the Arroyo administration and ZTE Corp. of China.

During direct examination, De Venecia, a former congressman of the 4th district of Pangasinan, told the court that he and his wife Gina went to Hong Kong on vacation in November 2006.

He narrated that while there, he received a phone call from former President Arroyo who invited him to play golf.

“I thought we were to play golf in Kowloon or nearby territories. It was when we already boarded the coaster that I learned that we will be playing golf in Shenzhen.”

De Venecia also recalled that the short trip to Shenzhen came as a surprise, as was the presence of Abalos.

“Going to Shenzhen and meeting Chairman Abalos there are two of the surprises I encountered when we were in China, though Chairman Abalos is a good friend and a famous golfer. Apart from Abalos, Chinese personalities who are representatives of the city government as well as of the ZTE met us in the golf course.”

De Venecia said that after playing golf, they had a sumptuous lunch at the ZTE headquarters where they engaged in a discussion about telecommunications, which prompted ZTE officials to market themselves and offer their services.

He noted that no one from the Malacañang Press Corps joined them in China and that the only picture they had while playing golf has become the only basis of the news reports that came out here, in China and in Hong Kong. He said he didn’t know who took the picture.

Earlier, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approved the recommendations of a special panel of investigators indicting the former first couple and the two former officials for violating Sections 3(g) and 3(i) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

She said the four officials should be held accountable for entering into a contract that was “grossly disadvantageous” to the government. Based on the report of the special panel, the cost of the cancelled NBN project should have been only $130 million.