Senate panel calls for Arroyo impeachment

Manila: The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has called for the impeachment of President Gloria Arroyo for allegedly turning a blind eye to her husband Jose Miguel Mike Arroyo and nine other government officials taking commission from the failed $329 million (Dh1.208 million) national broadband network (NBN) contract with a private firm from China, a local paper said.

"In the middle of it all is a President who was unable to control and discipline her own men as they fought over kickbacks. She kept her silence in the midst of the corruption — acquiescing and condoning the deed," Senator Richard Gordon told the Inquirer during a press conference on the committee's report.

The committee found that "the facts pointing to her [Arroyo] may not be total, but the stink is perceived to have reached her office," said Gordon, adding the same committee has recommended to the Ombudsman the filing of graft charges.

Gordon said the committee also called for the filing of charges against businessman Jose "Joey" de Venecia III, his father, former Speaker of the House Jose de Venecia, and former government consultant Rodolfo Lozada Jr.

The young de Venecia and Lozada were whistle-blowers of the case.

It was also recommended charges be filed against former socio-economic planning secretary Romulo Neri, former elections chief Benjamin Abalos and Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza, as well as Assistant Secretaries Elmer Soneja and Lorenzo Formoso.

"The committee also found substantial evidence to warrant the filing of charges against Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite and Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza for allegedly preventing Lozada from testifying at the Senate," said Gordon.

Sources said that Abalos, the former elections chief, had offered to bribe Neri to approve China's overseas development assistance to fund the broadband project instead of allowing a private firm to take advantage of the government's build-transfer-operate investment scheme. When the investigation was going on, Arroyo aborted the government project.

In response, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said: "It is not true that the President did not act on the report of [former NEDA official, Neri] about attempts to bribe him. The President ordered Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno to investigate through the PNP [Philippine National Police]."