GMA, Mike A are first witnesses vs Neri in NBN-ZTE trial

MANILA, Philippines - The former first couple may be made to testify against an ally in a sensational graft case in which they are widely believed to be also deeply involved.

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo are the first prosecution witnesses in the graft charges against former Social Security System president Romulo Neri in connection with the anomalous national broadband network (NBN) deal with a Chinese firm.

Government prosecutors, in a pretrial conference on the graft case against Neri, have asked the Sandiganbayan’s fifth division to subpoena the Arroyos and compel them to take the witness stand against Neri.

Prosecution Bureau IV director John Turalba said the former president would be asked to “shed light (on) the participation of Secretary Neri in the ZTE contract.”

Neri was the director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) when the Arroyo administration signed the $329-million NBN deal with ZTE Corp. in April 2007 in Hainan, China. Government contracts need NEDA’s endorsement before they are finalized.

Mrs. Arroyo cancelled the deal months later when allegations of irregularities emerged.

Turalba explained that the Arroyos may be slapped with contempt if they ignore summons from the Sandiganbayan.

Turalba said the weight of the former president’s testimony is “for the court to appreciate” and that “as far as the prosecution is concerned, whatever testimony given to the court would be helpful in the cause of the prosecution.”

Mr. Arroyo, he added, would be presented as the prosecution’s second witness whose testimony would likely corroborate that of his wife.

Turalba also bared that whistleblowers Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and Joey de Venecia III would also be called to testify.

“The first four witnesses will be presented in that order so that we will have a clearer picture of what really happened in this case,” he said.

Neri was at the pretrial conference but declined to be interviewed.

“Let’s see how she will testify, if she will testify,” Neri’s lawyer Paul Lentejas said, referring to the prosecution’s move to have Mrs. Arroyo as witness against Neri.

Government lawyers hope to present 24 witnesses against Neri while the defense will have three witnesses, including Neri himself. Aside from Turalba, the other state prosecutors in the case are Jofferson Toribio, Victor Pascual, and Kristine Carreon.

Sandiganbayan fifth division chairman Associate Justice Roland Jurado has scheduled the first hearing on Oct. 13.

De Venecia said he welcomed the prosecution’s move to have the Arroyos stand as witnesses and urged Neri to reveal everything he knew about the botched NBN contract.

Former elections chief Benjamin Abalos, who is facing separate graft charges, also attended the conference, but left in a hurry.

Meanwhile, Mr. Arroyo’s lawyer said the presence of the former first gentleman in the hearings on the case might only be “a waste of time.”

“But then, I would like to see first the summons to be fair,” lawyer Ruy Rondain said.

“It’s really strange that he would be called as a witness. What does he know about the workings in the Cabinet?” Rondain told The STAR.

He said he was surprised that the issue of Mr. Arroyo’s being made to testify was already being talked about when the case was still on pre-trial stage.

He said pre-trial could take six months or even more as numerous procedures would have to be made first, including marking documents.

“It (subpoena) sounds premature. We could be mixing up information somewhere,” Rondain said.

The former president, for her part, declined to comment. “We have yet to receive official communication to that effect,” Mrs. Arroyo’s spokesman, Elena Bautista-Horn, said.

The NBN scandal hounded the Arroyo administration almost throughout its last years in power.

The Senate conducted its probe on the controversy but didn’t get far because of an executive order issued by Mrs. Arroyo barring officials from attending legislative hearings without her permission.

Neri himself cited “executive privilege” in justifying his refusal to divulge details of his conversation with then President Arroyo regarding an alleged attempt by Abalos to bribe him to get his endorsement of the ZTE deal.

Michael Punongbayan, Philippine Star