MANILA, Philippines — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Thursday bristled at “unsubstantiated allegations” about her role in the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) scandal that has dogged her administration since 2007.

Ms Arroyo disputed a Senate committee report’s finding that she failed to immediately investigate an attempt to bribe then Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri with P200 million into endorsing the NBN deal with the Chinese ZTE Corp. in April 2007.
Addressing the report at a conference of broadcasters, Ms Arroyo said she had directed Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to conduct a “discreet” investigation of the bribery attempt, but the findings were “inconclusive.”

“When the NEDA (National Economic Development Authority) secretary alleged to me a bribery attempt attending the deal, involving a constitutional officer not under the administrative supervisory jurisdiction of the President of the Philippines, I advised the executive secretary and the [interior] secretary about it with the view of having the matter discreetly investigated,” she said at a management conference of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) in Tagaytay City.

Inconclusive

Ermita, for his part, directed National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales to open the investigation, while Puno “conducted his own,” Ms Arroyo said in her speech that was aired live over a government-run TV station.

“The findings reported back to me were inconclusive. Nevertheless, for the sake of propriety, I moved to cancel the project after explaining the matter to the President of China,” she said.

Impeachment

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of unsubstantiated allegations, gossip and innuendos mixed up with the facts of the case. This is part of our immature political system; it’s part of our immature institutions. And this immaturity hurts the growth of the nation.”

Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Senate blue ribbon committee said on Tuesday that Ms Arroyo should be impeached for her inaction on the corruption-tainted deal in violation of her oath of office.

The committee report recommended the prosecution of 11 others, including First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, Neri, former Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. and several Cabinet officials, for conspiring to defraud the government in exchange for kickbacks from the deal.

Gordon said Ms Arroyo was liable because she did not stop the signing of the contract even after she was informed of the bribe offer by Neri.

“She should have ordered an investigation immediately. She should have called all those involved. The President did not do anything. That is very glaring—there was no action taken by the President on all these,” he said.

Malacañang, along with its allies in Congress, quashed any plan to impeach Ms Arroyo, asserting that the Senate report would not alter the Ombudsman’s earlier resolution clearing the First Couple of any liability in the deal.

Eve of signing

On the eve of the April 21, 2007, contract signing in China, Neri later claimed at a Senate hearing that he met Ms Arroyo and informed her about the P200-million bribe offer from Abalos in exchange for NEDA’s approval of the deal.

The next day, Ms Arroyo went ahead with the trip to China, where she attended the Boao Forum for Asia, and witnessed the signing of the deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp. in Hainan.

She canceled the deal five months later in September 2007 amid allegations of bribery and bullying by the President’s husband that surfaced during the Senate probe.

Diplomatic relations

In February 2008, Ms Arroyo confirmed in a radio interview that she was informed by somebody that corruption attended the deal, but added she did not stop the signing lest it would imperil diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“Someone told me about it the night before the signing of the supply contract. That was one of many signings [in China]. But how can you cancel it the night before, considering that you are dealing with another country?” she said then.

In her speech before the KBP, Ms Arroyo defended the government’s decision to seek financing from the Chinese government for the NBN deal.

Reform political system

“Part of the 10-point program of the administration is to develop a network of not only transport but digital infrastructure to connect the entire country. And the most cost-effective way to do this could have been to set up a national broadband network. That is why we obtained financing from China for that purpose,” she said.

Speaking in the context of what she called an “immature political system,” Ms Arroyo aired anew her call for a “fundamental reform of our system and of our institutions.”

But more so now after the World Bank in 2008 upgraded the country’s income standing from a low-income country to a middle-level income country, she added.

“Now that we have moved to a middle-income status, we must hurdle a higher benchmark. That is why once again I call for fundamental reform of our political system to ensure greater accountability and transparency, but also reform to make politics less destructive,” Ms Arroyo said.

In Malacañang, Undersecretary Lorelei Fajardo said the President’s legal team was prepared to tackle whatever ruling the Ombudsman might issue on the Senate recommendation.

“It’s the call of the Ombudsman. Whatever its decision might be, we’ll be ready to defend her,” the deputy presidential spokesperson said in a briefing, reacting to the anti-graft body’s statement that the Senate report would not be ignored but would be considered along with pending motions for reconsideration of an earlier resolution.

“We don’t have to worry about anything. As I said, we’re ready to defend the President.” Fajardo said.

Unless asked by the Ombudsman, Ms Arroyo would not volunteer to explain herself before the body, Fajardo said.