Ombudsman directs Arroyos to appeal ‘reso’

Former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Ombudsman prosecutors have ordered former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and  the other accused in a graft case against her to file their motions for reconsideration on the resolution finding them liable for the approval of the canceled national broadband network (NBN) contract with a Chinese corporation.

Arroyo, her husband,  Jose Miguel Arroyo, former elections chief Benjamin Abalos and former Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza were given five days from January 3 to file the motions, if they should wish to do so.

Mendoza  filed a motion for reconsideration before the Office of the Ombudsman on Monday, in which he sought the dismissal of the case and defended the $329-million NBN deal with China’s ZTE Corp. as being advantageous to the government.

Arroyo, who is now a Pampanga representative, is charged before the Sandiganbayan antigraft court with two counts of graft and one count of violating the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials for allegedly approving the NBN deal despite knowing of its irregularities, and for playing golf and lunching with ZTE officials while company’s proposal to undertake the NBN project was pending approval by the government.

Arroyo’s husband, Abalos and Mendoza are her coaccused in one of the graft cases.

The Office of Special Prosecutor, in issuing the order to Arroyo and her coaccused, cited the January 3 resolution of the Sandiganabyan 4th Division which directed the Office of the Ombudsman to complete the preliminary investigation of the NBN-related cases. The court said the filing of the motions for reconsideration was necessary to complete the preliminary investigation.