MANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ?agonized? over her decision to fly to China in April 2007 to witness the signing of the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with ZTE Corp. because it came at a time when her spouse was recuperating from a delicate open-heart surgery, Malacañang said Wednesday.

The Palace explanation of Ms Arroyo?s controversial trip to China came six months after the NBN scandal broke wide open at the Senate, which has had 11 hearings on the matter that is now threatening to bring down her administration.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza denied claims by former ZTE consultant Dante Madriaga before the Senate the other day that the President had to leave behind an ailing Jose Miguel Arroyo, then confined at the St. Luke?s Medical Center in Quezon City, just to conclude the broadband deal.

In defending the President, Favila had to revisit the events leading to the President?s attendance at the Boao Forum for Asia, held at the scenic town of Boao in Hainan province.

It was former President Fidel Ramos who personally sought Ms Arroyo?s presence as one of the principal speakers in the annual forum, which is the region?s equivalent of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Favila said at a press conference in Malacañang.

Ramos forum co-chair

?Peter, this could be my last year as co-chair (of the forum). So it will be good if the President of my country will be the speaker of Boao Forum,? Favila said, recalling his conversation with Ramos.

Ms Arroyo ?readily accepted the invitation? earlier because Ramos had been traveling around the world to promote the Philippines.

But when the President?s husband was confined at the hospital, ?President Arroyo asked me to see President Ramos if she could be excused from attending the forum. I could sense the difficulties of FVR (Ramos). He was the one who put the program together. He made sure that President Arroyo ... is No. 1 in the billing in that forum.?

Witness to agony

Ramos, he said, suggested that Ms Arroyo could still push through with the trip by squeezing her activities into 12 hours.

?I was a witness to how the President was agonizing on the decision that she has to make,? Favila said.

Ms Arroyo eventually decided to fly to China so as not to embarrass Ramos and the country, the trade secretary said.

Favila said he had to recall the circumstances surrounding the signing of the NBN deal in the course of answering the question whether the First Couple had indeed received half of the alleged $10 million, allegedly the second tranche of kickback given by ZTE to the ?Greedy Group plus plus.?

In his Senate testimony, Madriaga said that at one point, Fan Yang, ZTE executive director, got irritated because the Filipino group could not control Jose ?Joey? de Venecia III, head of Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI) that proposed to undertake the NBN project on a build-operate-transfer scheme. (The project sought to digitally link government offices nationwide down to the barangay level.)

?But Fan Yang said ZTE will not give out the money ($30 million bribe) until we see your President in the contract signing. That is the only reason why the President went to Boao,? Madriaga told the Senate during its 11th hearing on the scandal-tainted deal last Tuesday.

Ms Arroyo flew to China to witness the signing of the deal at midnight of April 20, 2007, leaving her husband who was then recuperating from the surgery. She arrived at 3 a.m. the following day, then motored to Boao for two hours.

Applauded

Ms Arroyo was applauded by more than 2,000 forum participants when she showed up on stage to address the forum.

She met with some heads of state, ?but we have to cut it short because the President received an urgent call from the doctors that she had to rush back immediately (to Manila),? Favila said.

Mendoza signed the $329-million broadband deal for the Philippine government and ZTE vice president Yu Yong for his company at the Haikou Meilan International Airport in Hainan, a two-hour land trip from Boao, shortly before Ms Arroyo returned to Manila.

Several other agreements were signed, including the Cyber Education Project.

Before the April 21 signing, Favila said he had signed a memorandum of understanding with ZTE as secretary of trade and investment with ?full powers because I was signing on behalf of the Philippine government.?

Arroyo dazed

Favila said that ?at that point in time, I could see the President whose mind was really ... tulala (in a state of shock) because she was thinking of the condition of the First Gentleman. And I had to literally pull the President, telling her, ?Ma?am we have to board now. We have to get back to Manila to the consternation of some of the officials of China.??

The reason the President went to Boao was for that forum, the trade secretary stressed.

?So these claims that she went there for the signing of the agreement has no basis at all. Why would she tell me to talk to President Ramos if she would be allowed not to push through with the trip because of the condition of the First Gentleman?? Favila said.

?Liar?

Favila called Madriaga a ?liar? for claiming in a letter published by a newspaper (Malaya) that he and Mendoza informed the President?s husband in St. Luke?s about the signed supply contract right after the Boao trip.

?That is a blatant lie. But I never got the chance to see the First Gentleman because the doctors were saying under strict orders that only the members of the First Family can see the First Gentleman. So how in heaven?s name can this guy claim to high heavens that I and Secretary Mendoza went to see the First Gentleman to bring him the good news?? Favila said.

?C?mon, aren?t we all seeking the truth? Why can?t these people tell the truth?? he said.

Favila challenged Madriaga to agree to face all Catholic bishops, ?and the one who lies should die now.?