(UPDATE) 'I have no recollection of Shenzhen meeting'--Bunye
‘Arroyo promoting investment even on vacation’
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:12:00 05/16/2008
Filed Under: NBN deal
MANILA, Philippines -- Although outgoing Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said he had “no recollection” of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's meeting in Shenzhen, China with officials of the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE Corp. in November 2006, he reiterated that there was nothing wrong with the meeting.
In a press forum at the Ambassador Hotel in Manila on Friday, Bunye said he was not with Arroyo during the meeting.
“Me and my wife, we only joined during the tail end of the trip at humiwalay kami sa [and we split up from the] presidential entourage,” he said.
Bunye added that the meeting was private and that no media were allowed to attend.
But he said the President was just doing her duties and meeting with foreign investors.
“Her trip to Shenzhen was towards the tail end of her China visit, where she met with investors in different cities,” Bunye said.
He also said that instead of criticizing Arroyo, the opposition should do their part and work closely with foreign investors for the country's economy.
"The opposition is once again missing the point," Bunye said. "The President was doing exactly what they should be doing -- promoting investments in the Philippines and to the credit of the President, she was doing it on her vacation."
Instead, he said the "political games" of the opposition were driving away investors, impacting negatively on the country's competitiveness, and hampering economic growth.
"The irony is that every time her opponents try to make something out of nothing and cry 'scandal' they make the job of investment promotion much more difficult," he added.
Several quarters have questioned the propriety of the meeting between Arroyo and the ZTE officials at the time the bidding for the national broadband network (NBN) project was in the works.
The contract, which ZTE won, was eventually scrapped following allegations of bribery and overpricing surrounding the deal.
Palace officials have confirmed that Arroyo on November 2, 2006 played golf with ZTE officials and had lunch with them during a side trip to Shenzhen, China. Arroyo was accompanied by First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, then Commission on Election chairman Benjamin Abalos, and then House Speaker Jose de Venecia.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said the issue was one of propriety and not whether or not the meeting was done during the President's private time.
Senators Manuel Roxas II and Francis Escudero said Arroyo should personally explain the circumstances and the agenda of the meeting. They said that given the corruption scandal surrounding the scuttled NBN-ZTE deal, she could not brush off the meeting as a simple "private, social" activity.
Two former members of Arroyo's Cabinet -- Florencio Abad and Teresita Quintos-Deles -- said the President should come clean on the details of the meeting instead of dismissing its disclosure as a political gimmick.
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