ShareThisDe Venecia father and son listed as witnesses
QUEZON CITY — The Office of the Ombudsman (Ombudsman) has filed graft charges against former President and now Pampanga (2nd District) Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo before the Sandiganbayan in connection with the aborted US$ 329-million National Broadband Network (NBN)contract with ZTE Corp. of the People’s Republic of china (PROC).
Sandiganbayan Spokesman Atty. Renato Bocar said that the Ombudsman has raffled off the case and it went to the fourth division headed by Associate Justice Gregory Ong.
Aside from Ong, also sitting in the Fourth Division are Associate Justices Jose Hernandez and Ma. Cristina Cornejo.
Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francisco Villaruz, Jr. supervised the raffle of the case last Jan. 2.
Associate Justice Ong, who was appointed in 2007 by Arroyo as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court but whose appointment was withdrawn due to questions about his citizenship, vowed to treat all three cases against Arroyo like ordinary cases.
The two counts of graft and a case of violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713) against Arroyo were raffled to a single division because they were closely related.
The graft charges were filed by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño.
Former First Gentleman Atty. Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo; former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Benjamin Abalos, Sr.; and former Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Leandro Mendoza were included in the charges.
Three criminal informations were filed against Mrs. Arroyo.
One was for violation of Section 3-G of Republic Act 3019, otherwise known as the “Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act”, for entering into a contract with the NBN-ZTE, which was disadvantageous to the government.
The second case against the former President is for having interest for personal gain in a contract, which will pass through her office as President of the Philippines.
Thirdly, for accepting gifts or benefits from the ZTE in the form of playing golf and lunch in China in connection with the pending ZTE contract.
Two executives of ZTE Corp., the largest telecommunications equipment company in China, will be among the witnesses of the Ombudsman against Mrs. Arroyo for her alleged role in the $329-million national broadband network (NBN) anomaly.
ZTE vice president Yu Yong and Fan Yang, one of the firm’s directors, are expected to testify against the former president, her husband, former Comelec Chairman Abalos, and former DOTC Secretary Mendoza.
Also listed as witnesses against the Arroyos, Abalos, and Mendoza are former House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his son Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, NBN-ZTE deal whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr., Dante Madriaga, and representatives of DOTC and the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club.
The former president is now under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) for an electoral sabotage case filed against her by the Comelec before the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 112 last month for allegedly manipulating the results of the 2007 senatorial elections.
Electoral sabotage is a non-bailable offense and carries a penalty of reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment which is equivalent to a 40-year jail term.
Mendoza, who came to know of his indictment from news reports, secured a copy of the Ombudsman’s ruling last December 29 and filed his motion for reconsideration on Monday
In his separate motion submitted to the Fourth Division, Mendoza also sought deferment of proceedings and issuance of warrants of arrest while his appeal is pending with the Ombudsman.
The former Executive Secretary argued that he had already been cleared of any liability in the Resolution of the Ombudsman dated April 21, 2009.
He also said that the Ombudsman erred in declaring that ZTE Corp.’s proposal for the national broadband network project was “manifestly and grossly disadvantageous” to the government when compared to the offer of losing bidder, Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI).
“…(T)he ZTE contract was actually advantageous to the Government, more so than AHI’s proposal, in terms of coverage, cost against deliverables, data security, track record of the proponent and other significant factors,” Mendoza said.
Contrary to allegations of overpricing, the former DOTC secretary claimed ZTE’s price contract rose from $262 million to $329 million “because of the significant expansion of its coverage and substantial increase in deliverables” including 300 backbone stations, 30 network nodes, 300 base stations and 25,844 customer premises equipment, among others.
This, Mendoza noted, compared to 87 base stations and 500 cell sites offered by AHI at $240 million.
“As regards track record, which is of fundamental importance particularly in projects of this scale, ZTE surpassed AHI immensely. ZTE is a recognized player in the integration of telecommunications systems and is the largest listed telecom in the Hong Kong and Shenzen stock exchanges. On the other hand, AHI is a holding company with no experience in telecommunications