MANILA, Philippines -- For Malacañang, Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr.'s asking P500,000 from deputy executive secretary Manuel Gaite played out like a script.

"I'm saying that this is a contrived scenario," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters in the Palace.

Ermita claimed Lozada, the key witness in the Senate inquiry into the scandal-tainted national broadband network (NBN) deal, appeared to have duped Gaite into giving him the money through Lozada’s brother, Owe.

"Think about this. He [Lozada] said he was in London, but he was actually in Hong Kong. Did he really go to London? He did not even have a visa," Ermita said.

Lozada told the Senate blue ribbon committee that he had been sent to Hong Kong to avoid testifying on what he knew about the alleged overpricing and kickbacks that accompanied the awarding of the NBN deal to China’s ZTE Corp.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Gaite said Lozada asked for the money because he was running out of cash and had no winter clothes.