GMA invokes rights to remain silent on ZTE

MANILA, Philippines - Invoking her constitutional right to remain silent, former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is asking the Sandiganbayan to nullify a subpoena which has ordered her to appear as a witness in a graft case against former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Romulo Neri.

In a motion, she said she cannot take the witness stand and testify on the issue of the botched $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal because she herself is being probed for supposed involvement in the allegedly anomalous and grossly overpriced contract between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp.

The Sandiganbayan fifth division, granting a motion by a panel of prosecutors handling the case, issued a subpoena against Arroyo last month requiring her to appear before the court tomorrow, Oct. 13, on Oct. 28 and Nov. 11. Government lawyers led by Deputy Special Prosecutor John Turalba listed her as the prosecution’s first witness against Neri who will be asked to “shed light” on Neri’s participation in the NBN-ZTE contract.

Arroyo, however, argues that she was included as a respondent in the investigation conducted by the Office of the Ombudsman but was dropped from the same because of presidential immunity from suit.

The anti-graft body’s Joint Resolution dated Aug. 29, 2009 recommended the filing of graft charges only against Neri and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr.

Arroyo said lawyer Harry Roque, one of the complainants in the case, filed a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court asking the High Court to nullify the ruling.

On July 1, 2010, Teodoro Casiño of the party-list group Bayan Muna filed another NBN-ZTE complaint against her before the Department of Justice (DOJ), claiming that the former president was “never investigated despite overwhelming evidence of criminal and administrative culpability.”

“A careful perusal of the Roque complaint and the Casiño complaint would show that the subject alleged acts of the named respondents therein arose from the same facts and circumstances subject of the Joint Resolution (of the Office of the Ombudsman) dated Aug. 27, 2009 which led to the filing of the information of the instant case,” Arroyo’s motion to quash read.

According to her, requiring her to testify in the NBN-ZTE graft case against Neri violates her “right to remain silent when under investigation” under Article III Section 12 of the Constitution.

“A person under investigation has the right to refuse to answer any question and his silence may now be used against him,” the former president, through her lawyer Estelito Mendoza, said, citing a 1979 Supreme Court decision.

No excuses

The prosecution, in its comment, said the Sandiganbayan should deny the motion to quash since Arroyo’s “claim of invoking the tier of protection bestowed to an accused is misplaced.”

“Certainly, movant possesses the qualification and none of the disqualifications to be a witness. It is worth emphasizing that movant is not an accused in the above-captioned case and as such will be presented as an ordinary witness,” the prosecution said.

“As an ordinary witness she is compelled to take the witness stand and claim the privilege as each question requiring an incriminating answer is propounded to her. It is only the accused who may altogether refuse to take the witness stand and refuse to answer any or all questions,” government lawyers stressed.

The prosecution said the purpose of offering the testimony of the former president will only be limited to her stint as chairman of the NEDA at the time of the commission of the crime stated in the information and during which accused Neri was the director general.

Michael Punongbayan, Philippine Star