Arroyo had asked Neri why he didn't take bribe

(Updated 1:48 p.m.) President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo allegedly asked former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri why he refused to accept bribe money in exchange for the approval of the national broadband network (NBN) project. Businessman Jose "Joey" de Venecia III made the statement during a Senate hearing into the $329.4-million ZTE deal, adding that Neri himself passed the information. "The President responded, 'Bakit hindi mo tinanggap (Why didn't you accept it)?'" De Venecia said. He added that, "Secretary Neri's response to that was, 'Ma'am hindi ako ganoong klaseng tao (Ma'am, I am not that kind of person).'" "It was at this point that the President said, 'Huwag mo nang tanggapin pero i-approve mo ang project (At that point, Mrs Arroyo told him, 'Don't accept the bribe but approve the project anyway),'" De Venecia recalled Neri as saying. Newspaper columnist Jarius Bondoc, another resource person in attendance at the probe, said Neri narrated a similar story to him, but "not as detailed." Bondoc also said Neri narrated the same to House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora. De Venecia said Neri "seriously considered" resigning as head of the National Economic and Planning Authority (NEDA) following the conversation with the President. Earlier, Neri attested that resigned elections chair Benjamin Abalos offered him a P200-million bribe for the passage of the NBN project. Abalos has been accused of lobbying heavily for China's ZTE Corp., which later bagged the NBN project. As this developed, Malacañang said Neri dismissed De Venecia's testimony about the conversation with President Arroyo as "totally untrue." Palace officials said they learned of Neri's sentiments after Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo spoke with him via cellphone. Neri's statement was printed as a document that carried the letterhead of the Office of the President. "I (Neri) am shocked and appalled to learn that Joey de Venecia made the absolutely untrue statement in his Senate testimony today (Thursday) that in one conversation with him, I said that the President asked me why I did not accept the bribe offer from [former elections] chair Benjamin Abalos," the statement read. The statement said that, "Mr De Venecia's testimony is totally untrue. I stand by my Senate testimony last month. The President told me not to accept the bribe." For his part, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye made a separate announcement about Neri's response to De Venecia's testimony. In a text message, Bunye said that, "[It is] totally untrue ... Joey is imagining things or remembers things as to what he wishes would have happened. I'm now in Hong Kong." While he described Neri as a "friend," De Venecia expressed sadness now that the latter skipped the Senate hearing. Asked if he felt "abandoned" by Neri, De Venecia simply replied, "Yes, I do." - GMANews.TV