FT Chronicle

MANILA, Philippines— Impeachment for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo! That’s what the Senate seeks after a report by the blue ribbon committee for the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

In the report that was made public Tuesday at a press conference by blue ribbon chair Sen. Richard Gordon, the joint committee sought after the impeachment of Ms Arroyo and the prosecution 11 Ombudsman officers, including her husband Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, for allegedly plotting to use the government to get “kickbacks” from the contract.

Gordon said that she had violated her oath of office citing Section 5 of Article 7 of the Constitution which was a “culpable violation of the Constitution” and also did not stop the signing of the contract even after she had been informed of a bribe offer by Romulo Neri, at the time Ms Arroyo’s socioeconomic secretary.

Gordon said Congress could still impeach Ms Arroyo to strip her of immunity from suit as President.

Apart from the First Couple, the joint committee sought the prosecution for graft and other forms of corruption of the following:

Former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Chair Neri, former Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos, Pangasinan Rep. and former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and his son, businessman Jose de Venecia III, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite, Assistant Secretaries Elmer Soneja and Lorenzo Formoso III, former Philippine Forest Corp. president Rodolfo Lozada Jr., and Environment Secretary Lito Atienza.

Asked to comment, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said: “It is not true that the President did not act on the report of the then NEDA secretary that there was an attempt to bribe him.

Gordon also criticized the Office of the Ombudsman’s decision to clear the President of liability and to say that there was no more impeachment process to be had because of the one-year ban on the filing of impeachment complaints. He cited Section 22 of Republic Act No. 6770 (Ombudsman Act of 1989), which provides that the Office of the Ombudsman “shall have the power to investigate any serious misconduct in office allegedly committed by officials removable by impeachment.”

The NBN project aimed the linking national agencies with local government units through a dynamic telecommunications network but was cancelled due to scandals like purported overpricing and other terms and conditions of the contract that were disadvantageous to the government.

Among the key witnesses who testified at the inquiry were Neri, Lozada and Dante Madriaga, who served as a consultant to a business group that brokered and designed the project proposal.

The President canceled the NBN-ZTE contract in October 2007 amid charges that her husband was involved in the deal that was denounced as overpriced and disadvantageous to the country and bribe money went to the pockets of certain public officials to ensure approval of the project.

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