|
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Gaite will face Senate's NBN probe: Palace
MANILA -- Malacañang said Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite will testify before the Senate on the P500,000 cash that he gave to Rodolfo Lozada Jr.'s brother for his expenses while he was abroad.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Gaite would also reveal the source of the fund, which he claimed as private money, although not necessarily his own.
Post here your Valentine's Day greetings
"Secretary Gaite, being our senior legal officer, can very well take care of himself. If he is called for the hearing, he will attend the hearing," Ermita said.
He said Gaite was sore because he felt that Lozada took advantage of his compassion for him when he asked for assistance while he was supposedly in London, only to learn later that Lozada was going back to Manila and that he stayed in Hong Kong all the while.
Ermita also said Environment Secretary Jose Atienza Jr. claimed that he had never been so duped during his nine-year stint as Manila mayor.
Gaite admitted giving P500,000 to Lozada's brother Owe last February 4 after the key witness in the Senate hearing on the questionable national broadband network (NBN) deal with China firm ZTE Corp. told him through a text message that he was running out of funds abroad and was tired of the threats to his life.
Gaite said Lozada twisted his efforts to help him by making it appear as part of a scheme to prevent him from testifying in the Senate hearing. He said he felt like he was baited.
New witness
One or two witnesses will come out to testify to corroborate the testimony given by Lozada before the Senate blue ribbon committee.
Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, a member of the committee, said he is very confident that one or two Cabinet members will spill the bean and corroborate Lozada's testimony.
Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Alan Peter Cayetano, for his part, said the testimony of the new witness will really confirm that the NBN contract is an anomalous deal.
The new witness, according to Cayetano, can present details of the negotiation and has more knowledge on what transpired during the negotiations including the advance payment made by the ZTE officials.
Cayetano described the new witness as a reliable high-level government official.
Set up
According to Ermita, the Senate hearing showed that Lozada was already in contact with opposition senators as early as last year.
He said it "appears" like government has been set up and that the scheme involved millions of pesos in commissions on the broadband deal and the discrediting of the administration.
Ermita said the P20-million "patriotic fund" that was offered to Commission on Higher Education (Ched) chairman Romulo Neri last November in exchange for leaving the Cabinet could also be considered a bribe.
"The entire script is coming out," he said.
On reports that another consultant named Elmer Madriano is expected to give additional testimony on the NBN mess, Ermita said: "I do not know if there is such person. The consultants are now the ones dictating on the persons they give advice to."
Ermita also said the clip on the YouTube showing two pigs -- the smaller one with the voice of businessman Jose "Joey" de Venecia III, son of ousted House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., and the bigger one with the voice of Lozada -- talking about commissions showed them setting up a scenario to make the people believe that they are telling the truth. (JMR/CPB/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (February 21, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
