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ZTE Corp. broke its silence Thursday, issuing a
statement expressing its “readiness to file charges against those
behind its continuing vilification” concerning the shelved
national broadband deal.
“ZTE has neither done anything
wrong now has it bribed anyone to get this project,” the statement
read. “The ZTE NBN [National Broadband Network] proposal stands on
its own merit as sufficiently and ably defended by the DOTC
[Department of Transportation and Communications] before the
investigation of the Senate blue-ribbon committee.”
Earlier, Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada
Jr. testified before the Senate panel that former elections Chairman
Benjamin Abalos Jr. allegedly had a $130-million “commission”
from the project. He also said he was kidnapped by security forces
when he returned to the Philippines, after fleeing to avoid
attending the Senate hearing.
On Friday, the senators staged a
reenactment of what supposedly happened to Lozada when he returned
from Hong Kong on February 5.
The persons who picked up Lozada
at the airport were members of the Presidential Security Group,
according to security logbook. Another security logbook revealed
that the airport’s Chief Security Officer Angel Atutubo was one of
those who escorted Lozada out of the airport.
But Manila International Airport
Authority officials denied Lozada was fetched by the Presidential
Security Group. The presence of the security group on the day Lozada
arrived was “purely coincidental and had no connection with [his
arrival],” said airport General Manager Alfonso Cusi.
Court petitions
Lozada himself did not join the
airport reenactment, as he opted to attend the hearing of the Court
of Appeals on the writs of amparo and habeas corpus filed by his
family on his behalf a day after he disappeared last week.
The Appellate Court dismissed the
petition for habeas corpus but moved to continue hearing his amparo
petition.
In court, Lozada said he still
fears for his life and the petition for the writ of amparo must be
acted upon, as “I have been receiving death threats until now.”
Noting the dismissal of the
habeas corpus petition, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said,
“I think it’s for the Filipino people to see that it’s the
first step, that kidnapping never happened and the ruling validated
the position of those who testified before the Senate. There’s no
abduction or kidnapping.”
Asked if the ruling would stop
government officials from holding people like Lozada, Ermita said:
“Government officials follow the presumptive regularity
performance of their duty. I’m grateful that the ruling vindicated
the people who appeared in the Senate.”
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