Social Security System (SSS) administrator Romulo Neri pledged Friday to maintain his silence about the details of his conversation with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on the botched $329-million national broadband network deal. “I'll bring it to my grave,” Neri said in an interview with Radio dzBB, a day after the Office of the Ombudsman announced its decision to file graft charges against him and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos in connection with the scandal. The Office of the Ombudsman Friday charged the two close aides of Arroyo with graft but cleared the president and her husband of the same charges stemming from an anomalous multi-million-dollar deal with a Chinese company. Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro charged Neri and Abalos with graft. Neri was also placed under preventive suspension for six months without pay a day. Abalos was not suspended because he had long retired from his post. Neri was director general of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) when the Arroyo government negotiated a $329.5-million contract with China's Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment (ZTE) Corp. for a national broadband project as early as 2006. The contract was signed on April 20, 2007 in Hainan, China, witnessed by Arroyo. The Ombudsman cleared Arroyo of all charges on the ground that she enjoys immunity from suit during her term in office. Also cleared were president's husband Mike Arroyo, Pangasinan Congressman Jose de Venecia Jr., his son Joey, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, and officials of the ZTE Corporation. In its resolution, the Ombudsman said the testimonies given during the Senate hearing last year affirmed that Abalos “directly demonstrated his pecuniary interest in the business transaction between the government and that of the ZTE Corporation, a project that is completely alien to his duties as chairman of the Comelec (Commission on Elections).” As for Neri, the Ombudsman found probable cause to indict him because of his alleged misconduct as then head of the National Economic Development Authority which led to the approval of the broadband project between the Philippine government and ZTE. Assistant Ombudsman Jose de Jesus said Neri and Abalos will be given five days to submit their respective motions for reconsideration before their cases are submitted to the court. The broadband deal became controversial when Joey de Venecia III, son of then House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., went public to complain that Abalos and Mike Arroyo pressured him and his group to “back off” and stop opposing the entry of ZTE. The revelation led to a Senate investigation wherein Neri admitted that Abalos offered him 200 million pesos if he approved the government deal with ZTE Corp. Neri said he told Arroyo about the supposed bribe and the president told him not to take the money but implied that she wanted the NEDA to support the project. But he refused to give details of their converstaion in a Senate inquiry. Five months after signing the ZTE deal, Arroyo ordered it suspended on Sept. 22, 2007 as the controversy threatened to undermine her government. Jun Lozada, a key witness in the case, said the Office of the Ombudsman's decision to clear Mike Arroyo of wrongdoing was unacceptable. In a radio interview, he said he “could not help but cry” when he heard the Ombudsman's decision recommending graft charges against Abalos and Neri, while absolving President Arroyo and her husband. Lozada claimed he still has evidence to disclose regarding the Arroyo couple's involvement in the anomalous deal. Senator Richard Gordon, Blue Ribbon committee chairman, called for another hearing in preparation for the release of the committee report on the NBN-ZTE probe.
