MANILA, Philippines--Despite knowing of alleged anomalies in the national broadband network contract with China, the President could not be held liable for allowing the signing of the deal in April 2007, because the supposed irregularities had not been proven at the time, according to Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo herself said that she was told of the supposed anomalies attending the now shelved $329-million project, to be funded by a loan from China, a day before the signing but she did not stop the signing of the contract because of concern for the country's diplomatic relations.

But Gonzalez said the alleged irregularities had yet to be clearly proven by hard, convincing evidence at the time, which was why Arroyo should not be taken to task for witnessing the signing between Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza and an official of the Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

"No, she cannot be," Gonzalez said when asked if the chief executive could be held liable for signing the deal despite what she knew. "Nothing has been proven. Has Joey de Venecia proven anything?" Gonzalez said.

He was referring to the former Speaker's son and a losing project proponent in the NBN deal who earlier told the Senate that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo told him to back off from pursuing the project.

Another Senate witness, Rodolfo Lozada, said that former elections chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. wanted a $130-million commission from the deal and consulted with the President's husband.

As for the subsequent cancellation of the NBN deal, Gonzalez disagreed when asked if this would boost the claims of corruption regarding the project.

"No, it will not. She only canceled the project because of the hullabaloo. Even the Chinese government was saying that it gave no funds for the approval of the project," he said.

Gonzalez said it was unfair to consider the allegations of anomalies as truth when they had yet to be conclusively proven.

He said the proper forum to show the purported irregularities would be the courts and not the Senate, which, he pointed out, could not come out with criminal indictments.

The Department of Justice and the Ombudsman should be allowed to do their job of checking whether any laws were violated when the project was being evaluated and processed, he added.

The justice secretary also lashed out at Lozada for snubbing a DOJ panel's fact-finding investigation on the NBN project, but filing a kidnapping and attempted murder complaint against Cabinet and security officials who allegedly seized him from the airport when he returned to the country earlier this month. At the time of his return, there was a warrant for his arrest to testify in the Senate about the NBN deal.

In explaining his absence, Lozada said in a letter that a fact-finding investigation was not provided for in the Rules of Court and was thus a political, and not a legal, exercise. He added that the DOJ could only conduct a preliminary investigation if a complaint were filed before it.

Gonzalez said Lozada could not ignore the panel and yet file the case before the department's prosecutors.

"He can no longer say he does not trust the executive. He himself filed the case (kidnapping). What he's saying is baloney," Gonzalez said.