Ex-elections chief to file libel case

Manila: A former elections chief has vowed to file a 200 million pesos (Dh18.1 million) libel case against a witness who told the senate he was after a $130 million commission when he brokered for a Chinese firm in 2006 to undertake a telecommunications contract with the government.

Benjamin Abalos, former head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said the testimony of Rodolfo Lozada at the Senate was "fantastic and incredible".

"He wrongly claimed I had the power to choose the ZTE Corporation to undertake the project to put up a nationwide broadband network for the government," Abalos said.

"The Chinese government was the one that chose ZTE Corp to undertake the project because the Philippine government had allowed China to fund the project through overseas development assistance," Abalos added.

"We are preparing an affidavit of complaint against him. We will sue him for libel based on his testimony imputing a crime against Abalos," warned Abalos's lawyer Salvador Panelo.

Lied

"We will also file a case of perjury against him because he lied under oath when he testified in the Senate," Panelo said.

Lozada also said that President Gloria Arroyo's husband Jose Miguel brokered for the ZTE Corporation to earn kickbacks.

Mr Arroyo has not filed a libel case against Lozada.

Lozada claimed Abalos told him to ensure the $130 million in kickbacks, adding his superior, Romulo Neri, former head of the National Economic Development Authority, asked him to "moderate the greed" of the powerbrokers.

Lozada claimed the contract was originally priced at $260 million but it ballooned to $329 million to accommodate the $132 million kickbacks that were demanded by the powerbrokers.

He was no longer part of the project when the amount of the contract was increased, he added. Lozada also said he feared for his life and that was why he left the country and evaded summons from the Senate to testify.

Lozada was a part of the team that evaluated the government's broadband project.

"His testimony is fabricated," Abalos said when asked if Lozada was a credible witness. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye also accused Lozada of lying.