MANILA, Philippines -- The Senate will resume on Tuesday its investigation of the scrapped $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal as senators move to get more information on the “flaws,” which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said had marred the contract granted to ZTE Corp. of China.

The probe has taken a new dimension following the President’s belated admission that the deal was attended by irregularities, Senator Mar Roxas, co-chair of the joint NBN-ZTE panel, said on Monday.

“The Senate will continue with its hearings and call on the President herself to set the example to her Cabinet by telling the people all that she knows about the ZTE broadband deal,” Roxas said.

He asked dzRH radio to submit a record of Arroyo’s interview in which she made the admission on Saturday.

The President said she could not stop the signing of the deal in China on April 21, 2007, although someone told her the night before about the irregularities.

“But how can you cancel it the night before, considering that you are dealing with another country?” she said over dzRH.

She finally canceled the contract on October 2, 2007 amid allegations that it was grossly overpriced to fund kickbacks to government officials, including the President’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo and the then chair of the elections commission, Benjamin Abalos Sr.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, chair of the blue ribbon committee, said Arroyo must still reveal what the irregularities were and who told her about the irregularities.

“She claimed she would not spare anyone, but by not telling us who is involved, she is protecting everybody,” Cayetano said in an interview.

Roxas said the President’s admission “strikes at the heart of public accountability given the enormity of the deal that was also bilateral in nature.”

“We had (Romulo) Neri’s testimony that he informed the President about the bribery incident. Now we have the President herself saying she knew there were flaws in the contract but it had to be signed for diplomacy’s sake. Executive privilege is no longer an issue because of these admissions,” the senator said.

Even without the attendance of police and airport officials, the Senate probe would still have star witnesses Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and Joey de Venecia III, Senator Panfilo Lacson’s adviser Lito Banayo, and Senator Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal’s chief of staff Gary Jimenez as resource persons at Tuesday’s hearing, according to Cayetano.

Banayo and Jimenez are expected to corroborate Lozada’s testimony that Neri, former National Economic and Development Authority director general, called the President “evil” at a briefing he gave to Lacson and Madrigal last December in a café at the Asian Institute of Management.

The new witness earlier mentioned by Cayetano was unlikely to appear in Tuesday’s hearing.

Cayetano said his new witness had yet to make up his mind whether to come out in the Senate or in another venue.

“I will not say whether he is in the legislative, judiciary or executive branch. All I can say is he is part of the President’s inner political circle. He assured me through text that he was still willing to come forward with what he knows. He’s just waiting for the right time,” Cayetano said.

He said other senators might have also been approached by other potential witnesses, who could appear at the hearing any time.

Senate President Manuel Villar said the probe, which is on its fifth month and 11th hearing, remained open-ended.

“Putting a time frame on the probe is not possible because there might be other witnesses who could surface with new information and force us to resume our investigation,” said Villar.