MANILA, Philippines—Former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. fears that the Arroyo administration will fall apart if he reveals what he knows about the scuttled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

De Venecia talked to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) by phone a day after evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva urged him to come out and tell all about the NBN-ZTE scandal “to show to God and the people if he is really serious in launching his moral revolution.”

“With the convergence of the multiple crises, our government may fall. That’s what I am trying to say when I say I am waiting for the right time,” De Venecia said.

“Do you see how serious this is?” he said of the call for him to testify in a Senate inquiry.

“I owe that to the Filipino people, to the Filipino nation, to shed light on what I know,” said De Venecia, who sounded ill after he caught the flu on his return from a trip to Russia to attend an Asian energy forum.

“I said this before, I will testify before the proper forum at the right time,” he said. “I will just issue a statement when I get better. Just wait for that.”

The joint Senate committees had announced plans to issue a preliminary report after more than a dozen hearings on the NBN-ZTE controversy. However, the release by an unidentified witness of photographs showing Ms Arroyo with ZTE executives in China prompted plans to reopen the probe.

The pictures showed Ms Arroyo and De Venecia playing golf with a man and a woman presumed to be ZTE officials during what was described as a secret side trip on Nov. 2, 2006, to Shenzhen, China, in the course of a Hong Kong visit. ZTE has its headquarters in Shenzhen.

First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was also reportedly on the Shenzhen trip. The President’s husband has been implicated in the alleged bribery and overprice of the project to electronically wire the nation’s bureaucracy via the Internet.

Ms Arroyo subsequently canceled the NBN project that had earlier resulted in the resignation of Election Commission Chair Benjamin Abalos for allegedly brokering the deal and offering multimillion-peso bribes. The scandal also prompted renewed calls for the President to resign.

Witness disappears

De Venecia’s namesake son Joey, a losing bidder in the NBN deal, exposed the alleged irregularities that cost his father the speakership in February in what was described as the worst political assassination in the country engineered by the President’s two sons in the House of Representatives.

De Venecia had led administration allies in foiling repeated attempts to impeach Ms Arroyo over claims she stole the 2004 presidential election.

Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico, who has a line to the witness, said the Shenzhen trip was supposed to be a secret, but Malacañang denied this, saying it was scheduled as one of the President’s private visits during her Hong Kong trip.

De Venecia’s wife Gina last week also said that the meeting with ZTE officials was so secret that even she wasn’t invited to be with her husband.

Suplico later said his witness had disappeared, fearing for his life after unidentified people were seen in the area where he lived and asking neighbors about him.

Some senators Sunday said that De Venecia risked being implicated in the NBN wheeling and dealing.

JDV might be embarrassed

“If he does not have anything significant to say, he might only be embarrassed,” said Sen. Miguel Zubiri, secretary general of the administration party Lakas. “If he has nothing much to contribute, it’s better that he does not (testify).”

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, also an administration ally, said De Venecia would have to explain his role in negotiations with ZTE officials. “He might incriminate himself as well. What was the Speaker doing there?”

Santiago said that while the President could explain that she was talking to investors, De Venecia as the Speaker then had no obligation to talk to ZTE officials.

He can spill the beans

“He had no legal obligation to be there. He did not have to join the trip,” Santiago said, adding that De Venecia would not be perceived as a “credible” witness since his son was involved in the NBN project.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also acknowledged that De Venecia would be taking a risk if he were to testify.

“For all his faults, Joe de Venecia’s appearance before the blue ribbon committee, if he tells the truth, will be meaningful because he was one of those deeply involved in the negotiation with ZTE,” Pimentel said.

“He can very well spill the beans on the involvement of other people, including the President.”

Pimentel said De Venecia’s Senate appearance could “backfire” on him due to his involvement not only in the NBN-ZTE deal but also in the negotiations with the Chinese government on the $500-million NorthRail project.