(UPDATE 4) Now Palace says Arroyo met with ZTE execs
‘Nothing irregular’ about it--officials
By Abigail Kwok, Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 10:04:00 05/14/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Did President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo meet or didn’t she meet with officials of a telecommunications firm in China now embroiled in allegations of bribery that have linked her and her husband.
After an official from the foreign relations department of the ZTE Corp. told INQUIRER.net on Wednesday that the President did not visit the firm in China in November 2006, Malacańang officials admitted that there was a meeting but that it was “not a secret meeting,” that there was “nothing irregular” about it and that this was purely a “social function.”
In his weekly news conference Wednesday afternoon, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita confirmed deputy spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo’s statement earlier in the day about the President’s meeting with officials of ZTE Corp., on Nov. 2, 2006, five months before the $329 million national broadband network contract was to be given to the Chinese firm.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that there was a new witness who claimed that the President made an undisclosed trip to the headquarters of the company in Shenzhen, China, for a secret meeting with its officials.
In a phone call to ZTE in China by INQUIRER.net, the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media, said that there were no records of any visit from the President or First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in both October and November 2006.
“There is no visit from your President,” he said.
Asked for the reaction of the President, Ermita said, "The President would just stick by the truth and the truth is she was there."
The sidetrip to Schenzen for the meeting with ZTE officials was not part of the official schedule released to the public during that trip to China in 2006.
Asked why it was not disclosed, Ermita said, "I don't know. It's difficult to say which of the President's activities are official and private, but it's still part of the trip and she went there. Let's not split hairs about it, the important thing is she's not denying it."
"Indeed there was a meeting, but it's not a secret meeting, there's nothing irregular about it," Fajardo said in a telephone interview.
But Fajardo said that the meeting was "like the usual meeting" Arroyo would hold with officials or executives of big corporations when she would go on trips abroad.
"They're potential investors that's why she meets with them," Fajardo said.
Asked if she thought the photograph published in the papers was authentic, Fajardo said, “I would guess so, but as I said there was nothing wrong with the meeting.”
Arroyo's five-day trip to China on October 27 was for the commemorative summit celebrating the 15th anniversary of the historic partnership between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China.
When asked if he thought it was a diversionary tactic, Ermita said that it was "highly probable" that the revival of the issue was linked to the ongoing investigation of the Manila Electric Company.
"The first thing that came to my mind was it really was a case [of diversionary tactic]. But I suppose we just have to study carefully if indeed this has something to do with the raging issue with Meralco because as you are saying it is possible that this is just a diversionary tactic. Everything is possible. I'm not saying it is really so. Maybe some might say highly probable given the players in the raging issue which is electricity as well as the ZTE issue," Ermita said.
Ermita also raised the idea that the revival of the issue was due to the Senate blue ribbon committee's announcement that it would soon release a report on its inquiry into the broadband scandal.
Insisting that it was not a secret meeting, Ermita said the President played golf and was treated to lunch by ZTE officials. He said the First Gentleman accompanied the President and several officials, including former Speaker Jose de Venecia. He could not say, however, whether it took place in the headquarters of the Chinese firm.
"Why will we impute malice if the President met with officials of large establishments if their establishment will bring good investments in the country," Ermita said, adding that in the past, Arroyo had also met with officials of investors like Hanjin Heavy Industries Texas Instruments, and Teletech.
Asked if the broadband deal was discussed during the meeting, Ermita said it was "very improbable" that this would be discussed in a social activity.
Also on Wednesday, deputy spokesman Anthony Golez insisted the President would not allow illegal activities in her administration.
"We therefore recommend that any evidence must be formalized and be brought to the right authorities such as our courts in order for it to be examined, authenticated, and appreciated," Golez said in a statement.
"Anybody who wants the truth to surface knows that it is only achieved through our judicial institutions and not any other medium," he said.
Golez, however, did not reply to text messages when asked if reports were true that Arroyo had met with officials of China's ZTE Corp.
Arroyo scrapped the agreement last year amid allegations of bribery involving her husband and former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos.
Golez said the Palace would not prevent officials from attending any inquiry should it be revived as long as the rules were laid out.
"Our country is tired of political acrobats and our people need a respite from untiring allegations and what we need now are movers for solutions to our pressing problems," he said.
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