Abalos again!!!???

**jeffrocks** · October 12th, 2007 10:30 PM

Originally Posted by oldblue

who cares 'bout this thread. bad trip naman ibang tao dyan binabantayan post ko

Ayos lang yan pards, you or we can not pleased everybody...remember asar-talo

**oliver1013** · October 13th, 2007 01:00 AM

Hehehehehe

**VtEC** · October 13th, 2007 01:10 AM

i'm closing this thread

he he he he he he.cool lang bros.

**explorer** · August 28th, 2009 05:28 AM

from: www.inquirer.net

Abalos, Neri face charges over NBN deal

Lira Dalangin-Fernandez Leila Salaverria
INQUIRER.net Philippine Daily Inquirer
August 27, 2009

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 5) The Office of the Ombudsman has recommended the filing of criminal charges against former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. and former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri over the graft-tainted broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp., a party-list lawmaker said Thursday.

But the government anti-graft body threw out the complaints against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, both were accused of being involved in the supposedly overpriced $329-million contract, according to a resolution of the Ombudsman sent to the office of Representative Risa Hontiveros of Akbayan.

Also absolved of liability were Pangasinan Representative Jose de Venecia Jr., Department of Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza, DOTC Undersecretaries Lorenzo Formoso and Elmer Soneja, and ZTE officials Yu Yong, George Zhuying, Fan Yan and Hou Weigui.

Reached by INQUIRER.net, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez declined comment, saying she had inhibited from the case. A panel member, who refused to be named, confirmed a ruling has been made.

The ruling stemmed from the separate complaints filed two years ago by Hontiveros, Bukidnon Representative Teofisto Guingona, lawyer Harry Roque, Emmanuel Villanueva, Dominga Padilla, Roel Garcia, Bebu Belchand, Fr. Jose Dizon, Oliver Lozano, Ernesto Francisco, Carlos Padilla and Roberto Pulido.

The resolution, dated April 21, was approved by Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro, and signed by Deputy Ombudsman for the Military Emilio Gonzalez III, Assistant Ombudsman Rodolf Elman, Deputy Special Prosecutors Jesus Micael and Robert Kallos and Director Caesar Asuncion.

Arroyo scrapped the contract at the height of the controversy, which triggered fresh calls for her to step down in 2007.

A note at the end of the ruling stated that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez inhibited herself from the case. It was mailed to the office of Hontiveros and arrived at 5 p.m., on Thursday.

Abalos was ordered charged with violation of the anti-graft law and the Revised Penal Code for taking interest and intervening in a contract “completely alien to his duties,” as was shown by his bribe offer of “200” to Neri and the $10 million offer to Joey de Venecia III, the son of the former speaker. Also cited was his instruction to Rodolfo Lozada to protect their “130.”

“It is without a scintilla of doubt that the actions of respondent Benjamin Abalos, a former Chairman of the Commission on Elections, are highly suspect, reprehensible and should in no manner or measure be countenanced by those in public service,” the resolution said.

“The most glaring of all, a question that Abalos continues to keep mum about, are the reasons for his inordinate and extensive interest in a project that is completely alien to his duties and functions as Chairman of the Commission on Elections,” it added.

It further said that Abalos' presence in a conference in China with ZTE officials “speaks volumes into Abalos' conduct as a peddler of undue patronage.”

On the other hand, the Office of the Ombudsman said Neri was being charged for conferring with Abalos on the project despite the fact that the latter was not supposed to have any role in the project, and for meeting with ZTE officials when the project was under assessment.

As the then chief of the National Economic and Development Authority, Neri should have been more prudent in his actions since the agency was then evaluating the NBN deal, it said.

“On the contrary, Neri acquiesced in attending lunch meetings, conferences and golf games not only with Abalos but with ZTE officials as well. His actions speak more than a thousand. The chain of circumstantial evidence linking Neri to the deal between Abalos and ZTE officials cannot be broken,” it said.

“This panel cannot close its eyes to the conduct or misconduct, to be precise, of Neri, as Director General of the NEDA, in charting his course of actions leading to the approval of the NBN,” he said.

But Neri in a text message said the approval of the project went through a “lengthy process which involves different departments sitting together in committees--technical committee, the Cabinet committee and finally the NEDA board chaired by the President.”

“NEDA approves the project not the supplier like ZTE. It is the agency involved, in this case the DOTC, which chooses the supplier,” he said.

While happy with most of the Ombudsman's decision, Hontiveros was suspicious at the timing of the release of the findings, coming as it is amid the impeachment hearings against Gutierrez and on the eve of an election year.

But Hontiveros said this would not weaken the impeachment complaint, since Gutierrez was still liable considering that her office had sat on the case for two years. There were also other charges in the complaint.

She believed Gutierrez was pressured to release the findings since the NBN deal could be used as an election issue, and that Abalos and Neri were made the fall guys despite their apparent vow of silence.

“It's not enough that there are fall guys. The highest persons responsible should be charged,” she said.

She also vowed to monitor the progress of the case, since she had heard rumors that Malacañang wanted to hold the release of the findings. She also pointed out that Gutierrez had filed defective charges before, which led to the dismissal of the case.

Abalos was also ordered charged with corruption of a public official, in violation of the Revised Penal Code, for his bribe offer to Neri as revealed in the latter's Senate testimony. It said Neri's testimony was “clear and convincing.”

In dismissing the cases against the First Gentleman, the Office of the Ombudsman found that only “surmises and conjectures” were presented against him.

It also absolved the DOTC and ZTE officials of liability since based on the evidence presented, the ZTE offered the best deal and had the best track record compared to the other entities, such as Joey de Venecia's Amsterdam Holdings.

“The contention and comparison as to which proposal is more economically, technically and developmentally viable is beyond dispute,” it said.

**jjmd3_787** · August 28th, 2009 09:22 AM

[SIZE=3]WTF?! Dapat ganito ang verdict . . .[/SIZE]

**timrev** · November 9th, 2012 02:26 PM

Abalos needs to go to Taiwan to buy bangus fingerlings? Court smells something fishy

MANILA, Philippines - The Pasay City Regional Trial Court on Thursday junked the petition of former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. to be allowed to travel to Taiwan to purchase bangus fingerlings.

Abalos is being tried on electoral sabotage charges before Pasay RTC Branch 112.
Judge Jesus Mupas said Abalos did not need to go abroad to buy the fingerlings since there is enough supply in the country as attested by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatice Resources.
Felda Domingo Lomuntad, RTC Branch 112 spokesperson, also said Abalos could easily send someone else to Taiwan to purchase the fingerlings for him.
In his petition, Abalos said he wanted to travel to Taiwan to meet with the supplier of the fingerlings, stressing this is the only income he earns for his family.
He also claimed a lack of supply in the Philippines and that the prices offered in Taiwan were much lower than here.
Aside from the electoral fraud case, Abalos is also facing graft charges before the Sandiganbayan over the botched national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

Abalos needs to go to Taiwan to buy bangus fingerlings? Court smells something fishy - InterAksyon.com