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Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Speaker’s son gets death threat after accusing Abalos of bribery
MANILA -- A son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. revealed he has been receiving death threats following his disclosure that Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. tried to offer him US$10 million for him to back off from the National Broadband Network (NBN) project entered into by the government with Chinese firm ZTE.
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Joey de Venecia, majority stockholder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc., said he has been getting anonymous text messages and words from other people threatening his life.
“I’ve tried to confirm the source of these threats but I’m unsuccessful. My father has been so concerned that’s why he has been telling me to try to limit my statements to the media (about this issue),” the younger de Venecia said in a forum organized by the civil society group Black and White Movement (BWM) in Makati City.
AHI originally submitted a proposal for an NBN project but was set aside when the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) signed on April 12 in Boao, China an alleged overpriced US$330 million contract with Chinese firm ZTE Corporation.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was present in the signing ceremony.
Critics of the contract said the government could get the services from local companies at a much lower price. They also alleged that the contract was linked to other similar contracts entered into by the government like the multibillion-peso CyberEd project of the Department of Education (DepEd), though Education Secretary Jesli Lapus has already denied the alleged linkage.
In his expose, Joey claimed Abalos, who supposedly acted as the broker of the deal, tried to bribe him with US$10 million to let ZTE corner the multimillion-peso deal.
“Chairman Abalos was the captain of this contract,” he said.
Joey welcomes Abalos’s threat to sue him in court for his serious accusations.
“I’m encouraging him to do so our testimonies will be recorded in court. The court’s decision would clear the air between us. I have nothing to hide from Chairman Abalos,” he pointed out.
Asked why he had only recently aired his charges when the alleged bribe-try supposedly took place in December last year, Joey said it has not come into his mind to bring the issue in public.
“I have not publicly done my statement directly but I have expressed my concerns early on to the DOTC because it has not acted on our proposal. Back then I felt no need to bring this (bribe-try), thinking that it was merely a procedural problem,” he explained.
He admitted that he went with Abalos to China last December, where the alleged bribery offer took place, because the election chief “pleaded him to come.”
Joey said he could not stomach such a “dirty deal” prompting him to come out and disclose what he knows about the multibillion-peso contract designed to provide seamless connectivity between government agencies through cellular, radio, and Internet services.
Asked if his company would participate in another bidding if the government rescinds the contract, the younger de Venecia said they would not participate.
“If ever this contract is rescinded my company will not probably participate. It is such a dirty contract. The commission might have reached US$200 million,” he said.
He also admitted that the controversy has somehow “strained” his relationship with his father, who had cautioned him to take the matter lightly.
“My father is actually angry, he explained to me the possible consequences of these allegations, particularly what people, powerful people from concerned (government) agencies who have all the resources in the world to defeat my crusade,” Joey said.
“My father’s stand in this issue is to rescind the contract, not because of public uproar but because of the anomaly in the contract,” he added. (AH/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (September 11, 2007 issue)
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