Whistle-blower ‘clears’ Gloria in NBN deal

MANILA, Philippines - Whistle-blower Jose “Joey” de Venecia III practically cleared former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday of any involvement in the irregularities surrounding the botched national broadband network (NBN) contract with China’s ZTE Corp.

Taking the witness stand before the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division yesterday for cross-examination, De Venecia told defense lawyers that he believes she was neither involved nor did she receive any “kickback” from the deal.

De Venecia III, son of former speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., said he felt it was “unacceptable” for people involved in the deal to be name-dropping Arroyo since he believes she did not have any participation in the transaction.

Answering a series of questions from Arroyo’s lawyer, Laurence Arroyo, De Venecia responded “yes, sir” to queries on whether or not he believed the former President was not involved in the controversy and that she was just dragged into the issue despite her lack of knowledge of the details surrounding it.

Arroyo, her husband former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, former elections chief Benjamin Abalos, and former transportation secretary Leandro Mendoza are facing graft charges for their reported involvement in the allegedly anomalous $329-million NBN project in 2007.

Defense lawyers also pointed out that De Venecia did not mention Arroyo in his first and only sworn affidavit and only did in the Senate investigations.

De Venecia also admitted that his firm, Amsterdam Holdings Inc., which was a competitor of ZTE for the broadband project, stood to earn at least P400 million a year if awarded the NBN project.

The ZTE deal was eventually scrapped by Arroyo after corruption allegations – as claimed by De Venecia and other whistle-blowers – even though another prosecution witness, National Economic and Development Authority assistant director general Ruben Reynoso Jr., testified that NEDA found the NBN-ZTE project to be beneficial to the government, based on both its technical and economic merits.