WHAT WENT BEFORE: Romulo Neri, NBN-ZTE deal

Romulo Neri was director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) and socioeconomic planning secretary when the allegedly overpriced $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) contract with China’s ZTE Corp. was sealed on April 21, 2007.

The project was intended to install a telecommunications network linking all government offices across the country.

The signing of the contract between then Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and ZTE vice president Yu Yong was witnessed by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in China.

Neri had moved to the Commission on Higher Education as chair in July 2007 by the time the scandal about the allegedly corrupt NBN-ZTE deal broke and the Senate opened an inquiry into the matter.

In September 2007, Neri testified in the Senate that then Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. had offered him P200 million to endorse the NBN project and contract with ZTE.

Neri said he subsequently told Arroyo in a telephone conversation of the attempted bribe offer from Abalos and that the President had told him to reject it.

In August 2009, the Office of the Ombudsman found Neri, who was president of the Social Security System, guilty of misconduct and directed the Office of the President to suspend him for at least six months. It also recommended that graft charges be filed against him and Abalos.

On May 28, 2010, the Ombudsman filed graft charges against Neri and Abalos in the Sandiganbayan. Neri posted a P30,000 bail on June 21, 2010.

In September 2015, Neri urged the antigraft court to acquit him in the graft case and waived the right to present his own evidence.

Abalos acquitted

In May, the court’s Fourth Division acquitted Abalos as government prosecutors failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Abalos had indeed acted as agent in behalf of ZTE.

In June, the Sandiganbayan granted Arroyo’s motion for leave to file a demurrer aimed at convincing the court to dismiss the graft charges brought against her. In August, it allowed her to leave the country from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2 to visit doctors in Germany for a medical checkup, take a vacation in France, and meet with Filipino communities in both countries. She will also attend a family reunion in Hong Kong.

Sources: Inquirer Archives