Thursday, September 27, 2007 (Philippines)

WHO’S LYING? Comelec Chairman Bemjamin Abalos (left) and former Neda chief (now commissioner for higher education) Romulo Neri testify before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee. Who’s lying? (AP Photo) MANILA—A Cabinet official testified in a brewing kickbacks scandal yesterday that the country’s elections chief tried to bribe him to approve a Chinese company’s winning bid for a national broadband network. The $330-million project has been suspended but President Arroyo said Tuesday she had ordered a discreet investigation and found allegations of bribery and overpricing unsubstantiated. Romulo Neri, the former socioeconomic secretary and currently the commissioner for higher education, said at a third day of a Senate hearing that the head of the Commission on Elections, Benjamin Abalos, offered him P200 million to approve the Chinese bid for the project. [full story]