The ZTE-NBN Deal: What now?

[cebu1029]

---

did they get any kickbacks? wa man na dayon ang project diba?

[balatucan]

New NBN-ZTE witness surfaces

Says Arroyo visited ZTE execs at headquarters
By Juliet Labog-Javellana
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:24:00 05/14/2008

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MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made an undisclosed trip to the headquarters of ZTE Corp. in Shenzhen, China, for a secret meeting with its officials on Nov. 2, 2006, five months before she witnessed the signing of the national broadband network (NBN) contract, Iloilo province's Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico said Tuesday.

Quoting a witness, Suplico said the secret meeting was preceded by a golf game with the ZTE officials and had been apparently arranged by Benjamin Abalos, then chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), who eventually quit his post after his purported brokering of the $349-million NBN-ZTE deal was exposed.

Suplico described the witness as a friend of his who was in a group that was present at the golf game and at the meeting at ZTE headquarters.

Suplico said Ms Arroyo lied when she disclaimed involvement in the backroom deals behind the scandal-ridden project. "The President was lying when she said she knew of the flaws of the contract only on the night before the signing," he said.

The witness, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Abalos was also present at the golf game and at the meeting, along with the President's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, and several other persons.

The witness supported his account with pictures of the First Couple at the Shenzhen Golf Club. He said the golf club was less than two hours away from Hong Kong by car.

Contacted by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Tuesday for comment, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said he was not aware of a trip of Ms Arroyo to Shenzhen.

"I don't think it happened," said Bunye, who serves as the President's spokesperson.

When told that Suplico and his witness had pictures, Bunye reiterated that he did not know there had been a meeting with ZTE officials at their headquarters after Ms Arroyo's official visit to China.

"I don't know where he is coming from," Bunye said of Suplico, "but I was a member of the party and I don't recall any such activity."

ZTE officials in China could not be reached for comment.

Eyewitness account
This was the witness' account to the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

The President, with her husband and several other officials, arrived at the Shenzhen Golf Club in the morning of Nov. 2, 2006, after her trip to several provinces in China.

The First Couple had breakfast at the clubhouse with Abalos and ZTE officials before the golf game.

After the game, the President's party proceeded to the ZTE building, about 10 minutes away from the golf course.

There was a reception party at the headquarters. ZTE officials took the President's party on a tour of the plant, and then to a conference room for lunch.

"At first I didn't know it was the ZTE office, but we saw workers in their white robes making electronic and computer parts," the witness said.

The Shenzhen visit was apparently a side-trip to the President's official visit to Xiamen, Jin Jiang, Nanchang, Guilin and Nanning provinces in China on Oct. 30-31, 2006, which coincided with the commemorative summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Previous reports said that after her official visit, Ms Arroyo and her family spent All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day in Hong Kong.

While in the former Crown Colony, the President had an interview with reporters who covered her China trip. The visit to the ZTE headquarters was apparently not made known to them.

'Incognito, unannounced'
Suplico said the trip to the ZTE headquarters was so secret that not even Chinese government officials knew about it.

He said the Chinese guards at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border were surprised to learn that it was the Philippine president in a white van crossing over from Hong Kong.

"The President went there incognito, unannounced. Only the ZTE people and Abalos knew," Suplico said, adding:

"She came as a guest of ZTE. The fact that they rolled out the red carpet not at the airport, not at the border, but in the ZTE headquarters meant the ZTE people knew. And their lobbying paid off, because the President was their guest."

Ms Arroyo witnessed the signing of the contract in a hurried ceremony at the Haiku International Airport in Hainan as her husband was recovering from risky open-heart surgery performed at St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City on April 9, 2007.

Suplico said it was impossible for the President not to have known in advance the purported irregularities in the NBN-ZTE deal.

He said, "The mere presence of Abalos there, who apparently arranged the meeting, would have put the President on notice that there was something wrong with the contract because the chairman of the Comelec had no business brokering the deal and arranging the meeting."

He added, "And the President accepting the invitation to go to the ZTE meeting was highly questionable because [she] had no business meeting with suppliers. She is the president of the republic, and she does not shed her position even for a moment, not even when she goes to the comfort room."

Case in Supreme Court
A three-term representative of the fifth congressional district of Iloilo province, Suplico has filed a case in the Supreme Court seeking nullification of the NBN-ZTE contract that had been signed in Ms Arroyo's presence at the airport in China's Hainan province on April 21, 2007.

The case is still pending, he said, even if the President has scuttled the project.

Suplico also filed an impeachment complaint against Abalos in the House of Representatives, and later amended the complaint to include Ms Arroyo. The House dismissed the complaints but these are still pending in the high court.

Suplico disclosed the purported secret meeting to the Philippine Daily Inquirer in March, and then in subsequent conversations on Monday and Tuesday. The pictures were made available only on Tuesday.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer first spoke with Suplico's witness a day after the Senate's resumption of the NBN-ZTE investigation on March 11, where cable TV executive Leo San Miguel testified.

San Miguel was the much-ballyhooed surprise witness of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, but he surprised the latter when he denied knowledge of the purported kickbacks in the deal—including $41 million in advances supposedly given to the "Greedy Group plus plus," allegedly referring to the First Couple, Abalos and others.

'First proof'
Suplico, a former House deputy minority floor leader, said Ms Arroyo's meeting with suppliers of a government contract was highly irregular, and that her hands were not as clean as she would like the people to believe.

That the meeting was shrouded in secrecy and was not disclosed to the public raises the question of whether Ms Arroyo had a hand in the questionable deal, he said.

"This is the first proof that the President met secretly with ZTE officials in their own headquarters six months prior to the signing of the contract," Suplico said, citing the story and pictures of his witness.

But on April 29, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, chair of the Senate "blue ribbon" committee on accountability of public officials—the committee that headed the inquiry into the NBN-ZTE deal—said that while the investigation had yielded evidence "leading up to the Office of the President," it uncovered no direct testimony linking Ms Arroyo to the controversial deal.

On March 25, the Supreme Court ruled that the Senate could not force former National Economic and Development Authority chief Romulo Neri to answer three questions pertaining to Ms Arroyo's possible involvement in the deal.

The Senate indefinitely suspended the inquiry shortly thereafter, but filed a motion for reconsideration with the high court.

Testifying in the Senate in September 2007, Neri said Abalos had offered him P200 million to approve the project. But he refused to answer questions on the President's instructions to him regarding the project, claiming executive privilege.

Duty to be honest
Neither Suplico nor his witness could say exactly what was discussed between Ms Arroyo and the ZTE officials during lunch.

Suplico said Ms Arroyo's withholding of this information indicated that something was amiss.

"It's possible that the deal was sealed there. The mere fact that the meeting was shrouded in secrecy would tell us that something was wrong," he said.

"The President has a duty to the people to be honest, to tell us what happened during that meeting. Did she sell us down the golf course to the ZTE building?" he added.

Suplico pointed out that the golf game and meeting with ZTE officials occurred at the end of the President's trip to China, and were never disclosed to the media and the public.

"My only conclusion here is that the President is involved in this scam," he said.
With a report from Inquirer Research

[slakker]

this myth is CONFIRMED...

[godsaint]

Clearly the president is desperately doing all she can to divert her involvement in ZTE scam.Imagine a president playing golf with suppliers.Wlay delicadeza.

[FK]

I would believe the foreign relation officer from ZTE, that GMA was not there.

[Motownkid]

Sec. Ermita and Mikey Arroyo were bluffing in a media interview ganina..hehe wala pa cguro naka-ready ug mga palusot regarding aning new witness nga nigawas.

[godsaint]

Ermita admitted in an interview that indeed it was the pres.and FG in the picture with ZTE officers.patay malisya pa siya pagtubag wala daw malisya ang meeting.Purely golf ang daw.Pero hunahunaa lang presidente baya siya. Dugay na ni nga issue ang ZTe pero wla pa gyud ni tug an ang presidente about sa meeting.bakakon gyud diay si Gloria.

[Rance]

Asa naman si Lozada ug si JDV Jr.? si Lacson? http://www.youtube.com/user/patriots4truth

[godsaint]

I would believe the foreign relation officer from ZTE, that GMA was not there.

Bro, gi confirm na ni Ermita nga indeed si Gloria gyud to sa China.Ang nakalisod lang kay ingon pa siya nga ngano man diay kung makig meeting si Gloria sa officials sa ZTE?Pasalamat pa daw ta kay presidente anmg nangita ug paagi makakita ug investors ang Pinas.Pagka baga sa nawong!If gusto si Gloria nga mangita ug investors dapat sa presidente pud siya sa China makig meeting.Klaro na kaau ang iyang involvement sa ZTE pero gapabuta-buta lang ang ubang Pinoy.

[FK]

Bro, gi confirm na ni Ermita nga indeed si Gloria gyud to sa China.Ang nakalisod lang kay ingon pa siya nga ngano man diay kung makig meeting si Gloria sa officials sa ZTE?

exactly bro! i don't believe them. hahaha...

wala na sila nagpa buta2x bai oi... they see clearly that GMA is the best! more honest! oh yeah!