By Carlos H. Conde
International Herald Tribune
Published: February 24, 2008
MANILA: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Sunday that any officials involved in wrongdoing in connection with a scuttled $330 million broadband contract with a Chinese company would be held accountable - a day after acknowledging that she had been warned of possible irregularities before the contract was signed.
“No one will be above the law,” Arroyo said after hearing Mass at the presidential palace. “We will hold officials accountable if they are found to be corrupt.” At the same time, she struck out at her critics, saying there was no evidence linking her to the scandal surrounding the contract with the Chinese company, ZTE, a state-owned manufacturer of telecommunications equipment.
On Saturday, Arroyo said in an interview with DZRH radio that on April 21, the night before she witnessed the signing of the contract in China, she had been told about possible irregularities. She did not say who had told her about them or what the person had said.
“I received the complaint the night before the signing of the supply contract, which was one of many signings,” Arroyo said. “But how can you cancel the night before when you are dealing with another country?” She added that China, the Philippines’s largest trading partner, is an important ally.
Arroyo said she told President Hu Jintao of China afterward that the contract would have to be canceled. Arroyo eventually did so, but not until several months later, after allegations that it had been grossly overpriced and that an ally, Benjamin Abalos, stood to receive millions in kickbacks.
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In October, Romulo Neri, Arroyo’s former socioeconomic planning secretary, told Philippine senators that Abalos, then the elections commissioner, had offered him $4.4 million to approve the project. The president, Neri testified, told him to ignore the offer. Abalos has since resigned.
At least two witnesses testified in the Senate that the project, which was supposed to link government offices nationwide through a broadband network, was overpriced by more than 100 percent. A Philippine businessman testified that Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, had angrily told him to “back off” from entering a bid.
Last week, ZTE released a statement denying any wrongdoing and warned that the controversy could harm relations between Beijing and Manila.
Opponents of Arroyo seized on her admission Sunday.
It raised more questions than answers, said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of Bayan, a leftist group that has been leading anti-Arroyo demonstrations. “If she knew about it, she could have stopped it. Why didn’t she stop it?” Reyes said.
