Joey De Venecia recounts NBN-ZTE deal to Sandiganbayan

Businessman Jose “Joey" de Venecia III testified on the witness stand Thursday that former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos pressed officials of a Chinese firm to advance commissions on the proposed National Broadband Network (NBN) during a meeting in Shenzhen, China on December 27, 2006. De Venecia, son of former House Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr., told the Sandiganbayan that Abalos warned executives of Zhing Xing Telecommunications Equipment Inc. (ZTE) that “the President, the Speaker and a political party were waiting for this commission." The businessman was presented by the prosecution in the graft trial of former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Romulo Neri regarding allegations that Neri had unlawful monetary interest in the scrapped $329 million (P14.43 billion) NBN project. Asked by Prosecutor Omar Sagadal to clarify his statement, De Venecia explained that: “At that time the President was Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the [House] Speaker was my father." He also said that the political party involved was the then ruling party Lakas Kampi CMD (Lakas-Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino-Christian Muslim Democrats). De Venecia said he went to Shenzhen upon the invitation of Abalos, thinking that both Neri and his consultant, engineer Rodolfo “Jun" Lozada, would also be there, but neither showed up. After Abalos started name-dropping Arroyo and De Venecia’s father in front of the ZTE officials, De Venecia said he pulled aside the former poll chief so that they can talk privately. “I told him, ‘This is wrong. GMA and my father are both highly regarded in China and it was improper for him to use their names’," he said. Abalos reportedly refused to listen and even banged his fist on the table to stress his point. “I think he [Abalos] was getting impatient. He wanted the commission right away. He told the ZTE officials that, as chairman of the Comelec, he was the most powerful man [in the Philippines] from January until the end of the [2007] election period," De Venecia told the court. He surmised that Abalos brought him to the meeting to give the impression that they had agreed to be partners although De Venecia’s own firm, Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI) was the first to submit a proposal for the NBN project to the Department of Transportation and Communication. De Venecia admitted that it was his father who advised him to meet Abalos days after AHI submitted its formal proposal to the DOTC on December 5, 2006. Before meeting with Abalos, De Venecia said he had already pitched AHI’s offer to Neri and to Lozada who was introduced by the NEDA chief as a “telecommunications expert." De Venecia told the court that he met with Abalos at the house of his father (then Speaker de Venecia) and found that several people were also present, including: Leo San Miguel, who was introduced as the technical person of the Abalos group; a Gen. “Torch" dela Torre, who was supposedly with the computer section of the Philippine National Police (PNP); a Ruben Reyes; and Jimmy Paz who was identified as Abalos’ chief of staff. The following day there was another meeting, this time at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong where Abalos reportedly asked the businessman “if it was possible for AHI to withdraw its proposal to the DOTC." De Venecia said the Comelec chairman wanted “to do something else" after his career in government and in light of his few remaining months in office at the poll body. “I politely turned him down. I even offered him the chairmanship of Amsterdam Holdings if he wants that prestige; or a membership in our Board. I tried to explain to him that working in the telecommunications industry is very difficult. He gave no reaction," De Venecia said. This was followed by the trip to Shenzhen, where De Venecia said Abalos started showing his influence and where their relationship deteriorated. “Every time Chairman Abalos called me for a meeting I’d go. When he asked me to show up, I showed up," De Venecia explained. “I did not want to offend him." Abalos apparently realized that ZTE could not get the NBN deal because AHI was the original proponent, having submitted its proposal first, the businessman told the Sandiganbayan. De Venecia underscored that AHI’s offer of $200 million (P8.77 billion) would cover 80 percent of the country and on a build-operate-and-transfer (BOT) scheme, which meant “no cash-out" for the government. On the other hand, he noted that the initial ZTE offer was $262 million (P11.49 billion) and would cover only 30 percent of the country. In March 2007, De Venecia said he bumped into then Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza at his father’s house and the latter broached the idea of a “conciliatory meeting" between him and Abalos. The meeting took place again at Wack Wack and was attended by Torres, Reyes, Paz, San Miguel and Mendoza. The new addition was then First Gentlemen Jose Miguel “Mike" Arroyo. De Venecia said Abalos started the discussion by saying, “I have forgiven you for your sins." De Venecia said Mike Arroyo immediately intervened, saying: “Mag-withdraw ka na dyan. Project namin yan." (You should withdraw. That’s our project.) “I was trying to explain but he pointed to me and said ‘Back off!’ Still I explained that my proposal was in accordance with what President Arroyo was asking for. It was at no cost to the government," the witness said. After the meeting, De Venecia said he related the incident to Lozada. “I don’t remember anymore what he told me. But he was very disgusted. He saw that this [project] was full of corruption. I had a sense that he just wanted to get out of it all," De Venecia said. Interviewed outside the courtroom, De Venecia said he does not expect ZTE officials to testify for the prosecution. “I don’t think so. This is a case of corruption and they would not want to be a part of it," he told reporters. – MRT/JV, GMANews.TV