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MANILA - Two days after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo admitted in a radio interview of having received report of possible irregularities in the controversial ZTE deal, Malacanang said the president’s statement was misinterpreted.

Palace Spokesman Ignacio Bunye in an ANC interview said the different media outlets covering that radio interview over dzRH Saturday morning misinterpreted the President’s statement.

In that radio interview, the President said, “Nagsumbong sa akin the night before the signing of the supply contract… So, papaano mo naman maka-cancel the night before, meron kang ibang bansang kausap? (Someone told me about it the night before the signing of the supply contract. That was one of many signings. But how can you cancel a deal the night before, when you are dealing with a foreign country?).”

In the said interview, Arroyo did not say who told her about the alleged irregularities or specify what they were.

But she explained that by the time someone reported to her about the irregularities in the project she immediately corrected it by having the project cancelled.

“So, tuloy iyong signing pero sa unang pagkakataon, kinausap ko kaagad iyong pangulo ng China para sabihin sa kaniya na kailangan kanselahin iyong proyekto (The signing proceeded but the first chance I had, I spoke to the President of China and told him we had to cancel the contract),” she said.

Bunye clarified that the President’s statement did not state that she is aware that the ZTE deal for the country’s national broadband network (NBN) project is flawed on the eve of signing it in China last April.

Bunye further stated that what the President mean in her statement is “someone reported to her possible irregularities in the NBN project,” and not of her being aware that the project is flawed as what is reported in the different newspapers Sunday morning.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez in an interview over ABS-CBN Tuesday morning said the panel tasked to investigate the scrapped NBN project would look into Arroyo’s statement on her knowledge of flaws on the ZTE deal.

At the height of exposés on alleged corruption surrounding the NBN-ZTE deal in a Senate investigation, Arroyo ordered the justice department to investigate government officials involved in the deal and should be held liable for any impropriety. (Sunnex)

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