Case filed vs DOTC chief : NBN deal

[artpogi]

To some extent, I've been following this news.

IMO if we will look at all the players in this deal, mukhang mas credible talaga si Joey De Venecia. He already said that even if the ZTE deal will be suspended or will be put for re-bid they (AHI?) are not interested anymore. So what do they have to lose?

Character assasination of the players has begun, starting with Speakers' son.

IMO the important player on this one is Romulo Neri. From the looks of it, Neri was "forced" out of NEDA because of his "opposition" to the NBN deal. Neri divulged that "major" players attempted to bribe him, according to him he refused the bribe but was ordered by "Malacanang" to approve the deal and then Neri was shipped to CHED.

I'm waiting for what Neri has to say once he starts his testimony at the Senate.

My opinion is, this deal stinks all the way to Malacanang, aside from Abalos, there are bigger (read high placed) politcos involved in this deal. The money in this deal is too big to be passed-up by higher politicos.

The way I expect this to end is Mendoza (DOTC chief) will be sacrificed. Abalos will be advised to shut-up, the Senate will be given the run-around and the scam will die a natural death. And once the public/media has laid-off the backs of the scammers, the ZTE deal will push thru.

Sorry Philippines but that's just the way it is.

[Galactus]

Hopefully, Sec. Neri does testify, at sana ipitin nya yung dapat ipitin. I knew there was something fishy about his transfer from NEDA to CHED.

What they expect Neri to disclose
GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc
Monday, September 24, 2007


Last Thursday Romy Neri was supposed to testify at the Senate on the hated ZTE deal. On the eve he noticed strange men casing his house in Quezon City. As a Cabinet member Romy promptly reported the security threat. Executive Sec. Ed Ermita dispatched a team from the Presidential Security Group. Romy failed to attend the Senate hearing due to bum stomach. The surveillants turned out to be police intelligence agents.

Why cops were spying on him, Romy doesn’t understand. News reports, meanwhile, quoted Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon as associating the ZTE scam exposé to a plot to rock the Arroyo tenure. The military analysis echoes the old Marcos martial law trick of blaming legitimate dissent on communists and rightists. Did the surveillants suspect Romy of being among the imagined conspirators? Why do some officials seem so scared of what he might reveal about the $330-million government broadband deal with ZTE Corp. of China?

I have talked to Romy exactly ten times by phone and face-to-face ever since I started a series in Mar. on the ZTE scam. Each conversation was tense. On two occasions Romy swore me to secrecy. At least twice too he said his life was in my hands. In the last three talks, including Tuesday after I first testified about my exposés, I asked him when he would bare all. He repeated that there’s a time and place for everything. I told him of at least four pious groups that are praying for his safety. He assured me he would tell only the truth if made to take the oath. I said I anticipate the heavy sacrifice he would face if he does so; he sympathized with me for undergoing harassment, threats and false accusations. In our last talk, I told him I am honored he considers me a friend since 1987, when he became head of the Congress Planning and Budget Office.

I often review my notes of our first talk on the morning of Apr. 20, the day I wrote about the rush to sign the ZTE contract in Boao, China. From insider info, I had stated that the National Economic Development Authority, which he headed then, had approved the ZTE deal in a huff. He called to clarify that what NEDA had cleared was the concept for a national broadband network, not the company. Sorry, I said, but I drew my conclusion from the endorsement of Secretaries Leandro Mendoza and Ramon Sales specifying both Amsterdam Holdings Inc. and ZTE — just that it’s with the latter that Mendoza was signing a contract. I confided the tip that the NEDA didn’t like what it was doing.

Romy then rattled off many things he knew about the events leading to the scheduled signing of Apr. 21. I later learned that he had told at least three of our common friends the same things.

Some of the items have since been reported in broadcast and print. There was a supposed invitation from Comelec chief Benjamin Abalos to golf at the Wack Wack Country Club, during which Romy was offered P200 million to support ZTE. As the story goes, Romy turned down and told President Arroyo about the indecent proposal. Whereupon, she instructed him to not accept the bribe but ensure the NEDA approvals just the same. Romy has neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

Only God and Romy know if under oath he would confirm or deny the other items. I pray that he expound on them. He had told me on that morning of Apr. 20 and several other times that not only a Comelec official but an influential businessman too was inordinately lobbying for ZTE Corp. The businessman allegedly was responsible for the sudden rise of the ZTE tag price to $330 million days before the signing, when its original offer in Dec. to Feb. was $262 million. What was the $68-million difference for, I asked in subsequent talks. Romy said the businessman was assigned to raise campaign funds for an administration party during the last election.

I would understand if Romy balks in identifying the businessman. In a previous cocktail party at the residence of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., he said, that man had cornered and threatened him for opposing a fishy pier project. That man reportedly also worked on Romy’s consequent transfer from NEDA to the Commission on Higher Education.

Romy in our talks implicated most of the persons Joey de Venecia has exposed under oath as thieving from the broadband purchase. But I get the impression that Romy knows much more than the heroic whistleblower who initially was bidding for the telecom project.

About ZTE executives, Romy also said he has never seen any group as aggressive as them in pushing for a contract. They were waiting outside the NEDA conference room while the Cabinet was deliberating about them.

More importantly, Romy said a very powerful official arm-twisted him to turn the broadband project from a safe build-operate-transfer plan to a risky outright supply purchase. It was for that reason, he told me on Apr. 20, that he almost resigned from the Cabinet the day before.

* * *

http://philstar.com/index.php?Opinio...id=20070923128

[jpdm]

--I hope Romulo Neri will not allow himself to be tainted by the blatant, rotten to the core corrupt ways of the many officials in the Arroyo government. These super corrupt government officials think that they are untouchables thats why they ply their trade with impunity--a manifestation of the Arroyo government's culture of impunity!!

--Neri should remember that by exposing the corrupt officials behind the NBN deal Abalos et al will make him a hero in the eyes of an angry, intelligent public. History will look up to him favorably if we will expose the biggest rotten fishes in Philippine history after Marcos.

--Romulo Neri, go on. God knows who is doing the right thing.

---Nga pala, dapat mag Charter Change uli at sibakin na rin ang Kongreso at Tongresman.
---Senado na lang itira.

--Yung mga corrupt sa gobyerno di nila madadala sa hukay nila ang nakaw nila.Babawi sa ibang paraan ang universal karma sa kanila...sira ang pamilya nila, magkakasakit sila, maghihirap ang mga mahal nila sa buhay etc...

--Pres. Gloria, di pa huli ang lahat....do something. reverse the tide. When you leave the presidency in 2010, you pass the baton with dignity, respect and a lasting legacy. Its not too late.

--Your Ombudsman is inutile.Walang ginagawa.sibakin muna. Pati yung pinalit mong DOJ Sec. sibakin mo na rin.

[Galactus]

Unfortunately, yung Ombudsman has a fixed term of office. To insulate the appointee from perceived influence-peddling of the appointing authority. Kaya lang, siyempre, mahirap maging ingrata, kaya sipsip muna ng konti. Buti pa si Simeon Marcelo, mas minabuting mag-resign na lang, kesa mabahiran ng putik. Hanggat nandiyan si Merceditas Gutierrez, hindi gagalaw yung kaso laban kay Sec. Nani Perez. Especially since yung dating lawyer niya, Agnes Devanedera, is now acting Justice Sec. (and concurrent Solicitor Gen.)

There will be no more redemption for Pandak. Her soul is burning in hell, even as we speak. Sana mas lalong lumaki yung nunal nya everytime may ginagawa siyang kasalanan (ala Pinocchio), para nakikita ng buong mundo.

[claRkEnt]

i dont want to sound so righteous, pero nakakasuka tingnan 'to! daig pa yung picture nung accident ng motorbike driber sa C5 dati... :seeth::puke:



(source: philstar.com)

[claRkEnt]

i just hope that there's still some decency kay Neri... grabe na talaga pagka-garapal ng mga moves...

President asks Neri to take US trip with her--reports
By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:38pm (Mla time) 09/24/2007


(UPDATE 2) MANILA, Philippines -- Romulo Neri, ex-economic planning secretary of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and a key resource person in the national broadband network contract between the government and the ZTE Corp. of China, has been asked by the President to join her in the United States, an INQUIRER.net source said Monday.

Neri, now chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, excused himself from the first Senate inquiry last week for health reasons but promised to tell the truth about the NBN project when he takes his oath before the Senate body this week.

The INQUIRER.net source’s statement corroborated reports earlier Monday about Neri’s impending trip to the US.

Opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson said he has the same information.
When asked to comment, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said he would still have to check the information but at the same time dismissed the reports as “probably kuryente [false].”

“This woman certainly knows how to hide the truth. Worse, she has absolutely no pretentions how she does it,” Lacson said, referring to the President.

Senate Minority Floor Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. urged Neri to turn down the invitation.

“If Neri lets [Arroyo] to silence him, he can’t blame anyone if he is seen as a wimp without intestinal fortitude to help Senate get truth about ZTE deal. He should be condemned and burned at the stake,” said Pimentel.

Calls to Neri’s cell phone and his CHEd office have not been answered.
As NEDA chief, Neri rejected the loan for the ZTE Corp. proposal. He was later transferred to CHEd.

The same source said Neri has also been asked “to rest 'indefinitely' in California to prevent him from testifying and telling all in the Senate.”
The President is set to leave for New York for the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday night.

The next Senate hearing on the ZTE deal is scheduled on Wednesday with Neri among the invited resource persons.

[carscout]

[SIZE=3][SIZE=3]To all destabilizers:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]“Should you, however, persist in your evil designs, I say to you: You can try but you will fail. You cannot win against the people, I shall crush you.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Your President,Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo[/SIZE]
January 30, 2000
[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]

:hysterical:

“I hope that we can find an end to this conflict, not next year, or the next, but soon within the foreseeable future”
- Press Conference, Malacanang
April 24, 2001

:lolabove:Next thing we hear from her "Lets move on"

[SIZE=3][SIZE=3]“We don’t need shadows in this government. This is a government of transparency where accountabilities are institutionalized.”[/SIZE]
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]

:evil:Transparency my ass!!![/SIZE]
[/SIZE]

[A121]

sayang pala ung NBN. kung sana, dito na lang ginawa ung technology, sana mas makakamura pa sila. magandang R&D ito para sa different universities.


*carscout,
3 years plus minus na lng.

[carscout]

^^^^3 years is still a long time to wait... I wouldn't be surprise if these Bastards come up with another Government Project to milk when the public grew tired with these issues.. Incorrigible na mga ito..

Dapat ituloy tuloy ng senate ang investigation.. Managot ang dapat managot.

[oliver1013]

Mabigat tong dinadala ni Neri. Tingin ko He's torn between his principles and fear for his life..I just wish he follows William Wallace's words..

Fight and you may die, run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!