Arroyo couple can post bail

The graft charges filed on Wednesday against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the Sandiganbayan are bailable, but this does not guarantee her freedom because she was earlier charged with electoral sabotage, a nonbailable offense, a spokesperson of the antigraft court said Thursday.

Arroyo’s latest criminal charges in the Sandiganbayan stemmed from the Office of the Ombudsman’s finding that she had fast-tracked and approved the signing of the controversial $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp. in 2007 despite her knowledge of its irregularities.

Arroyo was also indicted for playing golf and having lunch with officials of ZTE when its proposal to undertake the NBN deal was still being evaluated by the Philippine government.

The Office of the Ombudsman said her acceptance of the round of golf and lunch with ZTE officials in China violated the provision of the law which states that public officials should not solicit or accept any gift in the course of their official duties in connection with any transaction that may be affected by the functions of their office.

Not enough for plunder

But the Ombudsman found insufficient evidence to charge her and her coaccused with plunder, which was what the original complaint had sought.

The golf game and lunch with ZTE officials led as well to the former President’s husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, being included in one graft charge with his spouse, as this showed his “unusual interest” in the deal, the Office of the Ombudsman said.

It also found the ZTE contract, which sought to connect government offices nationwide through a national broadband system, to be disadvantageous to the country.

It said this was akin to handing an entity associated with a foreign government access to sensitive knowledge on the Philippine communications network.

Abalos, Mendoza

Also charged were former Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos and former Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza.

The Ombudsman also recommended that further fact-finding investigation be conducted against Emmanuel Ang, then Philippine commercial attaché to China, for infidelity in the custody of documents for the loss of the original copy of the supply contract.

The criminal charges were based on the complaint filed by Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño, and activists Liza Maza and Carol Araullo.

They had wanted the Arroyos indicted for the nonbailable charge of plunder, but the Office of the Ombudsman found no basis to support this charge, saying the witnesses’ testimonies in Senate inquiries had failed to prove that money had changed hands.

The Office of the Ombudsman said Arroyo appeared to have used her position to hasten the deal’s approval, but there was no evidence to link her to the receipt of the alleged payment of kickbacks.

Bail

Arroyo was charged with two counts of graft and one count of violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials. Her bail was set at P30,000 for each graft charge and P10,000 for the violation of the code of conduct, or P70,000 in total, according to the charge sheets.

The bail for Mike Arroyo, Abalos and Mendoza, who were each charged with one count of graft, was P30,000 each.

The charges are scheduled to be raffled in the Sandiganbayan on January 2.

Once the charges are raffled to a division, the accused could post bail. The antigraft court has 10 days to review the charges and issue an arrest warrant if it finds probable cause, according to Sandiganbayan spokesperson Renato Bocar.

Bocar told reporters that should Arroyo post bail, this does not mean she would be freed, since she has another pending nonbailable criminal case in a Pasay City Regional Trial Court.

He said that when an accused posts bail in the Sandiganbayan, the subsequent order of release would state that the accused could be freed, “unless he or she is being detained under another warrant or order.”

Detained

Arroyo is currently detained at Veterans Memorial Medical Center due to her electoral sabotage case.

In its resolution ordering the filing of charges, the Ombudsman panel said Arroyo had approved Mendoza’s signing of the NBN contract despite knowing the anomalies surrounding it.

“GMA (Arroyo), despite knowledge of the irregularities, authorized Mr. Mendoza to sign the contract in her behalf. By affixing his signature to the contract, Mr. Mendoza was put on notice of those irregularities that led to its signing,” it said.

The panel also said that even if the contract had been canceled, those who signed it still have criminal liability.

Also supporting the graft charges were the testimonies in the Senate that ZTE’s proposal was only $130 million but was later adjusted supposedly to jack up commissions; Arroyo’s attendance during the signing of the NBN contract in China despite the authority she gave to Mendoza to sign it in her behalf; and the fact that the contract was entered into without public bidding.

Indecent haste

The contract was also entered into in “indecent haste,” the panel added. It said the contract was signed without waiting for the Department of Justice opinion on whether the NBN deal was an executive agreement and thus exempt from public bidding.

“Parenthetically, under the contract, the Philippine party would be handing over to a Chinese parastatal [owned or controlled wholly or partly by the government] the construction of a set of vital technological facilities that would thereby enable the other party associated with a foreign sovereign power to gain sensitive knowledge on, and a foothold over, the communications network of the Philippine government,” it further said.

The Ombudsman panel added that the ZTE proposal was more expensive and covered only 30 percent of the country compared with the proposal from Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI).

Active intervention

The panel also said that aside from playing golf with ZTE officials, Mike Arroyo initiated a reconciliatory meeting between AHI’s Jose de Venecia III and Abalos, who were tussling over the NBN deal. This “active intervention” made him a conspirator in the approval of the ZTE proposal, it added.

Abalos, on the other hand, was liable for various acts leading to the signing of the contract, including his meeting with Romulo Neri, a former director general of the National Economic and Development Authority, and the latter’s consultant, Rodolfo Lozada, in connection with the NBN deal.

Abalos is already undergoing trial in the Sandiganbayan for his role in the NBN deal, but Assistant Ombudsman Asryman Rafanan said the latest charge against Abalos was for violating a different provision of the antigraft law.

Earlier, the Office of the Ombudsman under Merceditas Gutierrrez dismissed previous complaints against the Arroyos in connection with the NBN deal.

Duplication?

A lawyer of Abalos expressed surprise at the filing of graft charges against his client.

“He (Abalos) is already facing a graft charge in connection with the NBN-ZTE deal before the fourth division of the Sandiganbayan. So, it is a duplication of a case, something barred by double jeopardy,” lawyer Gabriel Villareal said.

“If this case is the same thing, we have to wonder why are they doubling up on the same case?” Villareal said.

The Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP) on Wednesday lauded the Office of the Ombudsman’s filing of graft charges against the Arroyo couple and Abalos.

It was the AMRSP that had provided sanctuary to whistle-blower Lozada in 2008 at the height of the Senate’s investigation of the NBN-ZTE scandal.

Another plunder raps

Bayan Muna Representative Neri Javier Colmenares said his group would file separate plunder charges against Arroyo.

“Now that there is probable evidence that corruption took place in the NBN-ZTE project, the Aquino administration must put under the microscope and scrutinize the four other projects that NBN or China is involved in, including the Northrail project, for possible anomalies,” Colmenares said in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

He said many more officials were involved in these anomalies.  With reports from Cynthia D. Balana, Jeannette I. Andrade and Jerome Aning