economic secretary Romulo Neri Friday pleaded not guilty to graft charges filed against him with the graft court Sandiganbayan in connection with the government's botched $329-million national broadband network project with a Chinese firm. After his arraignment at the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division at 8 A.M., Neri immediately left the courtroom and gave short answers to questions from the media, a QTV Balitanghali report said. Asked to comment on the graft charges against him, Neri told reporters, “Well, we have to go through the process.” He also admitted feeling sorry for himself “paminsan-minsan” (from time to time). He refused to comment on the possibility of him turning into a state witness in the graft case. Neri's lawyer Paul Lentejas, however, said his client was neither interested in becoming a witness nor in joining the “Truth Commission” to be formed by President Benigno Aquino III to probe all anomalies that hounded the Arroyo administration, including the ZTE-NBN deal mess. The Office of the Ombudsman in April recommended the filing of graft charges against Neri and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos for their alleged involvement in the government's deal with China's Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp. in 2007. The Ombudsman affirmed the recommendation in late May. On June 21, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division issued an arrest warrant for Neri, but he posted a bail of P30,000 for his temporary liberty. The next day, the Sandiganbayan issued a hold departure order, allowing his arrest in case he attempts to leave the country. For the controversial project, Abalos supposedly offered Neri a P200-million bribe so that the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) – which the former headed at that time – will endorse the ZTE Corp. bid. Abalos had repeatedly denied offering bribes for the deal to be signed. Abalos' camp had earlier asked the Sandiganbayan's Fourth Division — which is hearing a separate graft charge against him — to defer his arraignment scheduled on July 20 at 8:30 A.M. Abalos said he should not be arraigned until the defense is able to show a connection between the NBN transaction and his former position as Comelec chairman. Amid criticisms spurred by Neri's appearance in a Senate inquiry, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo terminated the allegedly shady contract in September 2007. The project was supposed to improve the communication capabilities of government offices by interconnecting all agencies through a nationwide broadband system. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has inhibited herself from the graft cases, being a former batchmate of Arroyo's husband, former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo at the Ateneo Law School. The Office of the Ombudsman had not included the Arroyo couple in the charge sheet filed before the Sandiganbayan. During his appearance before a Senate investigation, Neri said he told Arroyo about Abalos' supposed “offer.” In response, Arroyo told Neri to refuse the “bribe” but approve the project anyway. Neri then declined to elaborate on his conversation with the former president. Among the personalities expected to take the witness stand in Neri's graft case are former Philippine Forest Corp. president and Senate whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr. and businessman Jose “Joey” de Venecia III, son of former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. Lozada, who was a NEDA technical consultant when the deal was made, accused Neri of intervening for the broadband project. De Venecia III, meanwhile, alleged that Abalos offered bribes to Neri and that Mike Arroyo had told him to “back off” from trying to secure the bid for the NBN project. The younger De Venecia is a major stockholder of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc. - a competitor of the ZTE Corp for the NBN project. De Venecia blasted the government for contracting the ZTE Corp. when his company had offered to carry out the same project for a lower price.
