DOTC chief says De Venecia twisted facts on NBN-ZTE deal

MANILA, Philippines - Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza on Wednesday accused former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. of twisting the facts about the National Broadband Network (NBN)-ZTE deal. In a press statement distributed in Malacanang this afternoon, Mendoza said that after the Supreme Court dismissed with finality the claims of De Venecia’s son “Joey" against the NBN-ZTE deal, the former Speaker continued to make baseless allegations against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. “He found this opportunity with the House Justice Committee’s impeachment hearings," Mendoza said. The DOTC secretary refuted De Venecia’s claim that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo lobbied for ZTE to secure the NBN project. “Nothing that De Venecia said, however, showed that the First Gentleman did by word or action. It was the Chinese government (which) chose ZTE," Mendoza said. He added: “In contrast, (De Venecia) himself intervened and exerted his influence for the approval of his son’s Amsterdam Holdings (build-operate-transfer) proposal to NEDA." Mendoza said De Venecia’s allegation that it was during the Shenzhen golf game that the mode in the implementation of the NBN project was changed from BOT to government-to-government. He said that as “early as October 2006, the CICT as the lead NBN agency, in a letter to NEDA already recommended that the NBN project be pursued as a G2G project as proposed by ZTE. This recommendation was concurred in by DOTC, endorsed by NEDA ICC and eventually approved by the full NEDA Board." On De Venecia’s claim that his son’s BOT proposal through Amsterdam Holdings was superior to ZTE’s because it entailed no cost to the Philippine government, Mendoza said nothing could be farther from the truth. “In the first place, Amsterdam Holdings had no money, no telecommunications franchise, no technical knowledge or competence. It was a shell company meant to exploit a government contract to be awarded through (De Venecia)’s influence and intervention," Mendoza said. He accused the former Speaker of failing to mention that his son’s proposal will cost the government a substantial amount of money in terms of service fees it will charge the government. "It was meant to be a profitable money-making venture" for Amsterdam Holdings, Mendoza said. The DOTC chief said under the BOT Law, "an unsolicited proposal like Amsterdam Holdngs’ is prohibited for a project like the NBN as the same is listed in the MTPDP (Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan)." - OPS/GMANews.TV