Former DOTC chief Mendoza pleads not guilty to graft rap

Former DOTC chief Leandro Mendoza. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — A wheelchair-bound former Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza pleaded not guilty to his graft charge on Monday for his role in the approval of the allegedly overpriced national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp.

Mendoza, who has difficulty speaking and walking because of the effects of his stroke, did not actually speak before the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division during his arraignment.

He indicated his not guilty plea by shaking his head when asked by the court if he was pleading guilty or not guilty. His lawyer Alexander Poblador also asked the justices to enter a not guilty plea for him.

Mendoza suffered a stroke in March while celebrating his birthday in a resort in Batangas.

Poblador told the anti-graft court on Monday that Mendoza could not talk but was “slowly recovering” from his stroke.

When Fourth Division Chair Justice Gregory Ong then asked why Mendoza still appeared before the court given his condition, Poblador replied that his client was ready to be arraigned.

The charge against Mendoza was read in full as he sat in his wheelchair, and Poblador said his client understood the information but could not speak because of speech impairment. It was then that the court asked Mendoza for his plea.

Mendoza, who was noticeably thinner, was accompanied to the Sandiganbayan by several people, including his son, Batangas Representative Mark Llandro Mendoza, and a man in scrubs who was pushing his wheelchair.

Poblador said Mendoza’s doctor was also among the people at the courtroom on Monday. Mendoza is undergoing therapy at St. Luke’s Bonifacio Global City to address the effects of his stroke.

“He can walk with some assistance, with the use of a crutch he can do that,” Poblador told reporters in an ambush interview.

Mendoza is the last among the co-accused of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the NBN graft case to be arraigned.

Arroyo and her other co-accused–her husband Jose Miguel and former elections chief Benjamin Abalos–pleaded not guilty to their criminal charges last month.

They were accused of conspiring to ensure the approval of the government’s $329-million NBN deal with China’s ZTE Corp., which the Office of the Ombudsman said was overpriced and was disadvantageous to the government.