By Ronron
February 10, 2008
Former Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos will sue Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada, Jr. for libel and perjury over what he views as “baseless and malicious” accusations that he wanted a $130 million kickback from the aborted National Broadband Network (NBN) project.
Abalos’ lawyer, Salvador Panelo, told a news conference in Pasig City Sunday morning that the case will be filed as soon as they get and finish studying a certified copy of the transcripts of the Senate proceedings last Friday where Lozada testified.
Panelo said the case will be filed at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court and they will demand “P100 - P200 million” in damages.
“For your information, if you malign a person, whether the allegation is true or not, if there is malice, then that is libel,” Panelo said.
To this, Lozada just said: “I guess that’s the price I have to pay. Anyway, the courts are with them so I don’t know, maybe, I will just leave my fate to the Church.”
In the news conference, Abalos showed a two-page letter of the Chinese Ambassador in Manila to then Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor, which stated that the Chinese government was already agreeing to a loan package for the NBN project.
Abalos pointed out that the letter was dated December 2, 2006, making it inconsistent, he said, with Lozada’s claim that a letter was immediately received by Abalos from Chinese officials after they met in September that year regarding the project.
Lozada had said that he was tapped by then National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Romulo Neri to be a consultant of the NBN project, which was of interest to ZTE Corporation, being lobbied by Abalos, and Amsterdam Holdings of Jose de Venecia III.
“On this alone, the statement of Lozada should crumble. You will see here that his story is fabricated,” Abalos said.
“If Mr. Lozada is not afraid of these libel and perjury raps because he might think these are small matters, maybe he should be afraid of what I have gathered that some groups will file anti-graft charges against him on the basis of his admission at the Senate (regarding the alleged irregular procurement of his office at the Philippine Forest Corporation)… He admitted it under oath, so he will definitely be convicted for that,” Panelo added.
Abalos said Lozada just alleged that he talked to First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo prior to receiving the letter from the Chinese government sometime in September “to implicate the First Gentleman.”
Panelo said “obviously, there is conspiracy” between Lozada and de Venecia “to malign” Abalos and then “implicate the First Gentleman” because “if the First Gentleman is implicated, then the wife should also be implicated.”
“If the wife (President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) is involved, then that is the issue now,” he went on.
Abalos also said that demanding a $130 million kickback, which is about half of the proposed $262 million project, is “fantastic and incredible.” He said no businessman would agree to giving a commission that huge, if ever.
Abalos maintained that he just assisted the ZTE Corporation executives in getting a deal with the government for the NBN project because they became close to him after being introduced by a common friend before.
He said that if indeed he sought for a kickback, then this should put the Chinese Ambassador in Manila at that time in a bad light because this would mean he was tolerating the supposed bribery.
“Don’t tell me the Ambassador of China connived with us too?” Abalos said.
Abalos said he is wondering why Lozada was talking about the financial aspect of the project, when Neri, according to him, testified at the Senate that Lozada was hired only to evaluate the technical aspect of the project. “What is his interest there?” Abalos asked.
He said what he knows is de Venecia was interested in the project because he wanted to partner with ZTE Corporation after the government rejected Amsterdam Holding’s Build-Operate-Transfer scheme proposal to get the NBN project.
But the problem was the ZTE Corporation, according to Abalos, does not want to deal again with De Venecia because he allegedly incurred and failed to settle a $10 million debt in a previous transaction.
In a hearing last year at the Senate, de Venecia claimed that he was personally told by the First Gentleman to “back off” from the project after he insisted in getting it for Amsterdam Holdings.
In a separate hearing, Neri also implicated Abalos by saying that that the latter assured him of P200 million if NEDA approves the NBN project in favor of ZTE Corporation.
Asked how he felt that three persons have already implicated him, Abalos said: “It’s not the number of witnesses. It’s the credibility of the witness. The statement should be credible by itself.”
As regards the threat he allegedly posed on Lozada, Abalos said: “Do I look like a man who’s capable of saying those things?... And secondly, why is he coming out only now, which is one year or so after I allegedly threatened him?”
Asked if he will go back to the Senate for the conduct of further investigation on the controversy, Abalos said: “Only if necessary… But maybe, the purpose is accomplished, for purposes probably of helping them come up with legislations, because the issues have already been addressed and heard.”
In a separate news conference yesterday, Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Secretary Leandro Mendoza said Abalos and the First Gentleman “never” had any influence in the pricing of the NBN project at $329 million when it was signed last year.
Mendoza reiterated that the price of $262 million increased to $329 million because the coverage of the project had to be expanded from just 30 percent of the villages and municipalities in the country.
Mendoza said that in fact, Abalos was not with the party of the President when the signing of the project was done in China last year.
Lozada had said that when he quit his consultancy job for the NBN project after being threatened by Abalos in January last year, the proposed price was still $262 million. But he noted that when it was signed a few months later, it was already at $329 million.
“I wonder where Mr. Lozada is coming from when he was not part of the negotiation by our technical team,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza suggested that to clear the issue whether the project was overpriced or not, an independent appraiser should be hired.
Meanwhile, Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol apologized Sunday for his racist statement against Lozada last Friday.
In a statement, Apostol said he just uttered the words “crying lady” in referring to Lozada who was testifying at the Senate last Friday morning because he was “emotional” after Lozada implicated First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo to the alleged bribery.
Apostol said he uttered those words in reaction to Lozada’s hearsay statements against the First Gentleman.
“Be that as it may, I sincerely apologize to our hardworking and law-abiding Filipino Chinese who may have been offended by my unintended slur,” Apostol said.
Aside from likening to a “crying lady,” Apostol suggested last Friday that Lozada should be deported for being a nuisance in the country.
Teresita Ang-See of the Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, Inc. and a known anti-crime advocate from the Filipino-Chinese community lambasted Apostol for uttering the “unacceptable” statement.
In an interview aired on ABS-CBN network last night, Lozada said the controversy has “disrupted completely” the lives of his children.
“That’s really the difficult part – you’re the one telling the truth (but) you are the one on the run. While the ones who are lying are there in the comfort of their houses, fancy homes, all the comforts are still with them,” he said.
Asked if what transpired between the President and Neri could be incriminating to the former that is why the latter invokes “executive privilege” at the Senate hearing when asked about it, Lozada only said: “I guess so.”
The Senate will continue its probe today (Monday) on the matter, although they will focus on the alleged abduction of Lozada by government agents when he arrived in the country last Tuesday afternoon from Hongkong.
Some Senators perceive the incident as an attempt to stop Lozada from disclosing what he knew about the ZTE scandal./DMS
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