MANILA, Philippines -- Malacañang played down the testimony of whistleblower Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. before the Senate investigation on the controversial $329-million ZTE broadband deal on Friday, calling it playacting.

"Drama-drama lang yan, crying boy [It's mere playacting from a crying boy]," chief presidential legal counsel Sergio Apostol told reporters at the Palace.

Apostol's swipe was an apparent reference to the emotionally-charged press conference in the wee hours of Thursday during which Lozada wept as he recounted how former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. allegedly pressured him to back the bid of China's ZTE Corp. for the scandal-tainted national broadband network (NBN) project.

Lozada, the former president and CEO of the Philippine Forest Corp., served as technical consultant of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), then headed by now Commission on Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri, when the agency approved the NBN project.

The contract with ZTE was scrapped after the Senate opened it inquiry into allegations of bribery and kickbacks. Among those who have been linked to the scandal are Abalos and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

Lozada is testifying at the Senate as of this posting, and has thus far detailed how government officials allegedly held him against his will in an apparent attempt to prevent him from telling what he know about the ZTE contract.