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By Efren L. Danao, Senior
Reporter
The influential Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) thumbed down calls
for President Gloria Arroyo to resign, even as a new Senate witness
said she and her husband were to get kickbacks in the ZTE deal.
A new witness linked her and her
husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, to the aborted project, saying they
stand to receive part of the $41 million in advances given by the
Chinese firm ZTE Corp. for its approval.
The new witness said the First
Couple were supposed to receive 25 percent of the project overprice.
The latest allegations against
President Arroyo and her husband seemed not to convince the
country’s Catholic bishops into asking the Chief Executive to step
down. The bishops said they are leaving the matter to the decision
of the people.
In a six-point pastoral statement
resulting from their 10-hour meeting also on Wednesday, the bishops
instead sought the revocation of Executive Order 464, which bars
Cabinet and security officials from testifying in congressional
probes without permission from the President.
Deputy Press Secretary Anthony
Golez said the government will look into the lifting of the
executive order.
In the pastoral statement, the
bishops scored what it called as the prevalent culture of
corruption in the government.
“We urge the President
and all branches of government to take the lead in combating
corruption wherever it is found,” the statement said.
The bishops appealed to the
senators and the Ombudsman, who are investigating the broadband
deal, “to use their distinct and different powers of inquiry into
alleged corruption cases not for their own interests but for the
common good.”
They also called on the media to
be “positive resource of seeking the truth and combating
corruption by objective reporting without bias and partiality,
selective and conscientious reporting of fact.”
Dante Madriaga, a former
consultant of ZTE that was awarded the project, said President
Arroyo had to go to China in March 2007 even if Mr. Arroyo was sick
because ZTE had threatened not to give any more advances unless they
personally see her at the project signing.
Madriaga, who claimed to have
designed the broadband project and was involved in it every day
until March 2007, added that the Filipino brokers of the project had
boasted of Malacanang protection after some government functionaries
expressed opposition to the project.
He identified the Filipino
brokers as former Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. of the Commission on
Elections, Leo San Miguel, retired Gen. Quirino de la Torre and
Ruben Reyes. Madriaga said Reyes is a golfing buddy of Abalos.
It was Reyes who took in dela Torre, a former comptroller of the
Philippine National Police, and San Miguel. He said San Miguel, whom
he had known beforehand, was the one who recruited him to work for
the ZTE project.
Advances made in three
tranches
Madriaga told the Senate
blue-ribbon committee that the $41 million in advances for the
broadband project’s approval was given in three tranches.
“The first tranche was $1
million, given in end-August 2006 for representation,” he said.
Madriaga claimed that dela Torre
and San Miguel did not receive anything from the initial advance.
“Only Abalos and Reyes partook
of the $1 million,” he said.
The second tranche totaled $10
million, given by ZTE after the approval of the project by the
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Madriaga said $5 million was
given to the First Couple, $2.5 million to “government men,”
whom he identified as Cabinet members. The remaining $2.5 million
was divided by the “greedy group.”
In an earlier hearing, former
NEDA Secretary General Romulo Neri testified that Abalos had tried
to bribe him with P200 million for the approval of the broadband
project.
The third tranche of $30 million,
given after the signing of the contract in China that was personally
witnessed by the President, was used to finance the campaign of
administration candidates in the 2007 elections.
Project cost escalates from
greed
Madriaga said the “greedy
group” had also asked for $5 million from ZTE to secure the
cooperation of Jose de Venecia 3rd of Amsterdam Holdings Inc., the
company that was also bidding for the broadband project.
“They did not get the $5
million because Joey (de Venecia) walked out of the meeting in
China,” he added.
De Venecia said he left after a
day in China last December after learning that Abalos was asking for
an overprice of $100 million.
Madriaga said the Chinese
were irritated that the group could not even handle one person,
referring to de Venecia.
Madriaga also claimed that the
true project cost was $98 or $99 million, and that the First Couple
would get 25 percent of the overprice of about $230 million. He said
his source was San Miguel, his immediate superior.
Madriaga added that the
project cost became that high because of the “greed’ of the
Filipino brokers. He said ZTE would have contented itself with a
markup of only 25 to 30 percent, but demanded equal share each time
the Filipino group wanted to increase the cost.
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