MANILA, Philippines -
Graft cases have been filed with the Sandiganbayan against Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo and two former officials in connection with the aborted $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal between her administration and ZTE Corp. of China. Facing charges with the Arroyos are former elections chairman Benjamin Abalos and former transportation and communications secretary Leandro Mendoza.
But the Office of the Ombudsman, which filed the case, found no probable cause to indict the four for plunder. Unlike plunder, violation of the anti-graft law is a bailable offense. Mrs. Arroyo is under hospital arrest, without bail, for electoral sabotage. Party-list group Bayan Muna filed the plunder case against the Arroyos.
“That contract was abrogated so there’s no damage done,” Mr. Arroyo told The STAR, referring to the NBN contract.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales approved the recommendations of a special panel of investigators indicting the former first couple and the two former officials for violating Sections 3(g) and 3(i) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
She said the four should be held accountable for entering into a contract that was “grossly disadvantageous” to the government. Based on the report of the special panel, the cost of the cancelled NBN project should have only been $130 million.
Carpio-Morales also filed a third criminal case for violation of Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees against the former president.
“GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), despite knowledge of the irregularities, authorized Mr. Mendoza to sign the contract in her behalf. By affixing his signature in the contract, Mr. Mendoza was put on notice of those irregularities that led to its signing, given that it was DOTC, of which he was then Secretary, which approved the recommendations of the BAC (Bids and Awards Committee),” the special panel of investigators said in its report.
“The signatories to the NBN-ZTE contract are criminally culpable. The moment a public official signs a grossly disadvantageous contract, he incurs criminal liability even if the contract has been cancelled,” the report read.
Explaining the inclusion of the former first gentleman in the list of respondents, investigators noted his “unusual interest in the transaction, as gathered from his acts of playing golf and having lunch with ZTE officials in Shenzhen, China, and initiating a reconciliatory meeting between (Jose) De Venecia III and Mr. Abalos” who had different proposals in mind on how the NBN project should be carried out. De Venecia, a son and namesake of a former speaker, is a businessman engaged in telecoms development.
“His (Mr. Arroyo) active intervention, as reflected earlier, in the transaction makes him a conspirator in the approval of the ZTE’s proposal and the eventual signing of the contract,” according to the Ombudsman investigators.
