THE new witness to the controversial US$329 million national broadband network (NBN)-ZTE deal is missing since Sunday night, said Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico.
Suplico said the witness, given the codename "Alex", could not be contacted through a go-between adding that he feared for his life since he has told him earlier that suspicious-looking men had been seen around his neighborhood asking about his identity.
"As of last night I lost contact with him (Alex). We're trying to contact him as of this time. The last message I got from him he told me he is seriously looking for another place," Suplico said in an interview after a forum on the NBN-ZTE deal in Makati City organized by the civil society group Black and White Movement (BWM).
He said that he and Alex have developed a system on how to communicate without being detected through a go-between but that even the ZTE witness has lost contact with him.
"Is that ominous? I don't know. All I know is he fears for his life and his family," Suplico added.
Alex provided Suplico photos showing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo with officials of ZTE Corporation in a golf game in Shenzhen, China back in November 2006 when the NBN-ZTE deal was being hatched.
ZTE Corporation became the choice supplier for the broadband project, which was discontinued as the Senate deliberated in 2007 on the alleged irregularities.
Suplico said he has earlier advised Alex to be careful.
"I told him to be very careful as threatening witnesses who dared to come out in the open has become a modus operandi of the Arroyo government," Suplico said, adding that this latest development might even lead to the witness' non-appearance in the Senate re-investigation on the controversy which is set to reopen.
Pressed to divulge the identity of his witness, Suplico said he will not disclosed it nor force him to attend any Senate inquiry into the issue.
"I will not force him to attend the re-investigation. I will have to ask him for authority first if he would agree to be identified," he said.
All that the vice governor could say about his witness is that he is a "probinsyano" and a "lowly government employee."
Meanwhile, Suplico released a photograph of two officials of ZTE who were allegedly with the First Couple and Pangasinan Representative Jose de Venecia Jr. at the Shenzhen Golf Club last November 2006.
Suplico said the photo also came from Alex. The photo, he said, is Alex's proof that the alleged ZTE officials were present in the golf game.
"At the moment I do not have their identities. However, I am certain that these are the faces of ZTE officers," he said.
In a related development, the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) said they are ready to take Alex in their care if he wants just like resigned Philippine Forest Corporation president Rodolfo Lozada Jr. who has earlier testified on the alleged anomaly in the ZTE contract.
"We can and we'll take care of him. The sanctuary that we are providing to people like him is open to everybody," said AMRSP sister Ester Castillone.
Meanwhile, Lozada and Dante Madriaga offered tips to Alex to better cope with the situation he is in.
"You (Alex) should have faith in yourself, in the nation and in the people but most of all in God. You should dig to your faith," Lozada said, adding that prayers allowed him to cope and survive the difficulties and threats.
Columnist Jarius Bondoc said the latest developments are only the latest in a series of threats to witnesses and potential witnesses coming from the administration.
"This only proves that their really is an attempt to 'silence' whistleblowers," he said.
Earlier, administration Senator Juan Ponce Enrile said the Senate should pull out the security assigned to the witnesses including Lozada due to the high cost.
Reports said it has already cost the Senate about P2 million to secure Lozada and the others since they come out in the open.
Lozada, still staying at the La Salle campus in Greenhills, San Juan, said he has only four security escorts down from the original eight while only one was assigned to his family from the earlier two.
"I will not be surprised coming from an administration senator. It only shows there is really a concerted effort of this administration to pressure us," Lozada said.
Madriaga said he has only two security details when he goes outside the safe house. (AH/Sunnex)
