Abalos laments DOTC chief's silence on ZTE

Wary of being cited in contempt of court, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza is keeping his mouth shut on the controversial $329-million broadband deal and is leaving other personalities in the incident to hang. This was the lament of Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Wednesday, who said he has not been bailed out of the scandal because of Mendoza's refusal to "explain" the deal. "I asked Mendoza last Monday why he did not explain this. He said the case is sub judice because it is in the [hands of the] Supreme Court. He said he will answer the charges at the proper venue," Abalos said in Filipino on Iglesia ni Cristo-run dzEC radio. Abalos has been accused of brokering the deal, which he has denied. Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said Abalos was present in a meeting with officials of China state-run ZTE Corp. when the deal was being discussed. Although two other firms tendered lower project bids, the Philippines entered into the broadband deal with ZTE Corp. last April. Abalos insisted he knows nothing about the deal itself, though he admitted ZTE officials are his golfing buddies, and one of the officials is a "kumare" of his daughter. As this developed, Abalos washed his hands off the $55-million bribe allegedly received by a Comelec official for the deal, as claimed Tuesday by Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Lacson said a Comelec official received $55 million while a "Big One and a Little One" got $75 million. Another $68 million was supposedly for the "election expenses." All these "extras" resulted in the bloating of the contract from $130 million to $330 million, Lacson said. For his part, Abalos said that, "How I wish I were that Comelec official. That is more than P1 billion. But will the Philippine government dole out such an amount?" "Whatever it is I cannot comment on that because I know nothing about it," he added. Asked if he favored canceling the contract, Abalos refused to comment, saying, "why don't we leave it to the court?" "Critics said there was no bidding, that it was signed during the election period, and it was overpriced. Let's leave it all to the court," he said. Meanwhile, Abalos laughed off another impeachment threat, saying it is the fourth one so far against him, with all previous impeachment bids already junked. "You tell me – what are the grounds this time?" he said. Radio station dzBB said Wednesday morning that lawyer Oliver Lozano was reportedly planning on lodging an impeachment complaint against Abalos before the House of Representatives. A group of lawmakers in the House are already mapping out plans for the impeachment bid against Abalos. Lozano has prided himself as lodging impeachment complaints early, often to the disdain of politicians who say their plans are potentially preempted. However, the radio report separately confirmed with House Secretary General Roberto Nazareno and Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla that Lozano's reported complaint has yet to reach their offices as of Tuesday night. Padilla last week delivered a privilege speech at the House wherein he accused Abalos of receiving women and pampering ZTE officials. He told dzBB radio that he was reportedly listed as "copy furnished" but has not seen the document. The lawmaker added that he would closely study Lozano's documents before endorsing it, saying these might lack proper evidence and be junked by the House plenary anyway. - GMANews.TV