MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE 11) Former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. led endorsers to the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in presenting evidence before the committee at the House of Representatives hearing the charges against the chief executive.

De Venecia admitted receiving P500,000 "bribe" money from Malacañang in 2007 to support the "sham" impeachment complaint against the President who he claimed has spent millions of pesos in supposedly buying other congressmen and local officials to "purchase legal protection" at that time.

De Venecia and six other endorsers of the impeachment complaint presented a ?recital of facts? at Monday?s impeachment hearing.

Presenting evidence on the alleged electoral fraud in the 2004 election, Bukidnon Representative Teofisto Guingona III read the alleged conversations in the "Hello Garci" recordings between Arroyo and former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Guingona read the portion where Arroyo was purportedly asking the poll official if she would lead by more than one million against her closest rival, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.

"The existence of the Hello Garci tapes is undeniable," said Guingona, the last of seven endorsers to present evidence before the justice committee.

Electoral fraud is one of the charges leveled against Arroyo in the fourth impeachment complaint seeking to put her on trial.

Guingona III said that Garcillano?s appointment to the Commission on Election paved the way for Arroyo?s victory in the 2004 presidential election.

"The fraud could not have been committed without the Comelec," he added.

He said that during the elections, the Comelec also printed three million excess ballots and 33,000 excess certificates of canvass, which was done by private printing firms instead of the government-owned National Printing Office.

In his presentation, Representative Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna partylist said the government's contract with China for the P503-million North Rail project violated several laws but the President did not terminate the contract.

Casiño cited a Supreme Court ruling, which said that the "acts of secretaries, unless disapproved or reprobated, were presumptively the acts of the President."

He said the North Rail project with China, signed in 2004, was without the prior concurrence of the Monetary Board, as required by law. It also did not pass through competitive bidding because the project was claimed to be an executive agreement.

A Makati court in 2007 ruled that the contract did not comply with the government's auditing code and was grossly overpriced.

Gabriela partylist Representative Luz Ilagan talked about the allegedly anomalous mining contract in Compostela Valley, which she said was a betrayal of public trust because it sold the country's gold reserve in Mt. Diwalwal to China's ZTE Corp. under terms of agreement that were allegedly grossly disadvantageous to the country's interests.

Representative Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis partylist narrated how the P728-million fertilizer fund was used in 2004 to boost the presidential bid of Arroyo. He said the President had a hand on who would receive the funds.

"Sabi ng mga magsasaka, ginamit ang P728 million na pang-abono sa kandidatura ni Ginang Arroyo at hindi sa kanilang palay at mais [The farmers claimed that the P728 million was used for the candidacy of Mrs. Arroyo and not for rice and corn]," Mariano said.

He said Malacañang used the Department of Agriculture, particularly its former undersecretary Jocelyn Bolante, to facilitate the smooth transfer of the funds from the department to its recipients.

Earlier on Monday, two other opposition lawmakers presented the charges against the President -- Gabriela partylist Representative Liza Maza, also on the alleged bribery of House members and local officials (bribery and graft and corruption) by the Palace and Bayan Muna partylist Representative Satur Ocampo who spoke on human rights violations and enforced disappearances (culpable violation of Constitution, betrayal of public trust) allegedly under the Arroyo administration.

"Mr. Chairman, you can make this exhibit A, I am prepared to turn this over [to the committee]," De Venecia told the justice committee on Monday on the money he claimed to have received from the Palace.

The former speaker, who is leaving for Jakarta, Indonesia for a speaking engagement Tuesday, said he still has the money and that he was planning to give it to Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

He said the money was delivered to his office in the afternoon of October 11, 2007 after the President met with some of his colleagues in Malacañang and several local officials.

The Pangasinan congressmen also lamented the "rampant, wide-scale bribery and corruption as if we members of House are commodities."

"The President must have spent millions of pesos, including the cash gifts [to local officials]. ? My God, this bribe money given to congressmen and governors was her way of purchasing legal protection for one year," he said.

He said the distribution of the "bribe" money was done during a meeting between the President and some congressmen in Malacañang on October 11, 2007, close to a week after lawyer Roel Pulido filed a three-page impeachment complaint against Arroyo.

De Venecia said the President wanted him to endorse the "sham" complaint, which expectedly was junked for insufficiency in substance. Only one impeachment complaint can be initiated against any public official in one year.

"During that meeting in Malacañang, many were given P500,000 cash in bags," he said, adding that many of the congressmen are "not guilty," although Representatives Bienvenido Abante of Manila and Antonio Cuenco of Cebu had admitted to receiving the funds.

"I was not there because I knew what was going to happen, I was invited by the President again at 11 a.m. at the music room and there President Arroyo herself asked me to please transmit the impeachment complaint to the committee on justice. I said, ?I'm sorry, I cannot transmit a bogus impeach complaint, it's fraudulent?," he said.

Earlier in his speech, the former ally of the President directly linked her to the allegedly anomalous national broadband network and North Rail projects.

De Venecia said it was First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo who had proposed to the President to approve the NBN contract with China?s ZTE Corp. by drafting a government-to-government contract instead of coursing it through the required build-operate-transfer scheme.

De Venecia also refuted the First Gentleman's charges that he was lying.

"Pictures do not lie," De Venecia said Monday when the justice committee would determine whether the impeachment complaint filed by his son, businessman Jose ?Joey? de Venecia III, and several others, was sufficient in substance. The House panel ruled last week that the complaint was sufficient in form.

"Mike Arroyo said that perhaps it is best that this project be done on government-to-government basis ? that this project be undertaken by the Philippine government for $329 million dollars at the government's own risk, at the Philippine government's own expense," he said.

On the North Rail project, De Venecia said Arroyo and some of her officials have a lot explaining to do on why the North Rail project has yet to begin four years after her government signed an agreement with China.

De Venecia also denied getting a "commission" from the project, saying, "How can anyone ask for commission when we are begging them to come."

Four years after the agreement was signed, De Venecia said not one kilometer of the rail has been built from the 32-kilometer, double-track rail worth $421 million.

"President Arroyo must do a lot of answering," he said, as well as the president of the North Rail project and Trade Secretary Peter Favila.

Earlier Monday, Minority Floor Leader Ronaldo Zamora said Monday?s presentation was merely to determine whether the complaint was sufficient in substance; ?we are not here right now to determine the guilt or innocence of the respondent who is the President."