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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Neri denies calling Arroyo 'evil'
MANILA -- Commission on Higher Education (Ched) chairman Romulo Neri said he does not remember calling President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as "an evil person" as said by resigned Philippine Forest Corporation president Rodolfo Lozada Jr. in his testimony before the Senate Monday.
Neri, said Lozada, called President Arroyo an "evil person" and described her as being in the center of the "ecosystem of corruption."
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But Neri said he could not recall describing the President as evil. "I don't remember saying that," he said.
Neri, however, offered a different version of what transpired during a "confidential" meeting attended by Lozada and Senators Panfilo Lacson and Jamby Madrigal in Makati City last December 7.
Neri was also quick to add that such meeting took place "a long time ago" so he could not remember saying anything to such extent.
"The meeting was so long time ago," he added.
Related stories:
Lozada: Neri said Arroyo is 'evil'
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Arroyo wants key project approved despite bribery allegations: witness
Senator asks committee to subpoena ZTE officials (4:12 p.m.)
Lozada also told senators that in the said meeting Neri showed "drawings" of the oligarchs who influence and benefit from corruption, including Enrique Razon, chairman and president of International Container Terminal Services, Inc.; Lucio Tan, Tommy Alcantara and one of the Aboitizes.
While Erramon Aboitiz, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, admitted that the Aboitizes are friends with the Arroyos, he said they never benefited from such friendship to further their business interests.
"We're businessmen and we've always been apolitical in our entire history. We will remain to be (apolitical)," he said.
He said he does not have any resentment with the mention of the Aboitiz name during the Senate hearting because, as he said, "I know the truth."
Also during the hearing, Lozada turned over to the Senate blue ribbon committee the P500,000 in cash allegedly given to him by Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite for his expenses while he was in Hong Kong.
But Malacañang officials questioned why Lozada only talked about it now and expressed suspicions on the real source of the cash.
Neri admitted, meanwhile, hearing about "patriotic money" that will be given to him once he decides to testify but did not confirm Lozada's testimony that it was him (Neri) who wanted the "patriotic money" as insurance in case he leaves the government.
Lozada told senators Monday that after Neri testified at the Senate last year, the Ched chairman asked for his help to solicit "patriotic money."
Lozada defined patriotic money as Neri's insurance once he decides to leave the government and reveal what he knows about the allegedly graft-ridden NBN deal between the government and China's ZTE Corp.
He said in pursuit of collecting "patriotic money," Neri sought an audience to present his outline of how deep the country's corruption problem was.
Absent
Only Lozada, his sister Carmen, and Bro. Felipe Belleza, president of the La Salle Greenhills Alumni Association, were present in Monday's Senate inquiry.
Among those who did not attend were Police Security and Protection Office (PSPO) Chief Romeo Hilomen, PSPO Deputy Chief Paul Mascarinas, Police Aviation Security Group Chief Atilano Morada, Manila International Airport Authority deputy for security Angel Atutubo and "mystery agent" Rodolfo Valeroso.
Lawyer Felisberto Verano Jr. said his clients invoked their right against self-incrimination.
"Madrigal...filed charges of obstruction of justice against those who spoke and testified in the last hearing, and worse used statements made during the same hearing as basis for the filing of the said complaint," said Verano in his letter to Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon committee.
A separate fact-finding investigation by the Department of Justice is set to start Tuesday on possible criminal violations of some government officials and private individuals involved in the scuttled NBN deal.
Justice Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda said the five-man panel of prosecutors, which will conduct the inquiry, and will focus mostly on the filing of perjury charges and violation of the government procurement law.
This as Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, prior to the start of the preliminary investigation on the nine consolidated cases related to the NBN controversy, announced she was inhibiting from hearing the cases.
Evil
"He called Presidente GMA...evil. Evil po," Lozada told senators, referring to Neri.
Lozada agonized in front of the senators and before revealing the "evil" description, he apologized to Neri.
He also said that Neri's "ecosystem of corruption" in the Philippines had the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on top of the government agencies involved in corruption.
The others were the Philippine National Police (PNP), the Department of Budget Management (DBM), and the National Economic Development Authority (Neda).
Lozada said after Neri had testified at the Senate last October, he (Neri) started to think of resigning from the government and revealing to the public what he knew about the NBN deal.
He added that Neri was also upset with the President's reaction to his (Neri's) report that he had been offered a large bribe in the NBN deal. The President ordered him to get the project approved anyway.
Lozada said Neri confided to him his disappointment and started calling the President "evil."
"I know Jun is very sincere with me and cares for me but I really cannot recall that statement. I don't remember. I cannot up to now," Neri told a press conference in Malacañang.
He said the meeting, which was arranged by Lozada's brother, did not touch on the NBN transaction but was about the political economy.
"I gave my usual lecture on political economy and to shorten it I just put one brief framework and I think we all agreed that this is the nature of the Philippine state and the oligarchic state, the players concerned," he said.
Neri said he still believes that the reforms in the political economy of the country would be coming from the President with the help of all the sectors of society. (AP/Sunnex/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (February 19, 2008 issue)
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