MANILA - A motion for reconsideration was filed before the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday seeking to include First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in the graft case on the botched US$329 million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with Chinese firm, ZTE Corp..

“We cannot allow the big fish to go scot-free,” said petitioner Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros, in questioning the 21 April 2009 joint resolution dismissing the culpability of the First Gentleman and other individuals in the anomalous deal.
 
Hontiveros was joined by engineer Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, one of the whistleblowers in the NBN-ZTE case, as intervenor in the motion for reconsideration.  

In the motion for reconsideration, Hontiveros and Lozada argued that the First Gentleman should be charged with violating Sections 3(A) and 3(H) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.  

“How can he be absolved when his involvement was pretty clear? References to his role in the anomalous deal have been mentioned several times in the testimony of Jun Lozada, and yet they were conveniently ignored by the Ombudsman,” they added.  

Hontiveros is one of the complainants in the consolidated NBN-ZTE complaints .

In the Ombudsman's joint resolution, only Abalos and former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director-general Romulo Neri were charged with graft.  

Aside from the First Gentleman, complaints against President Arroyo, Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Leandro Mendoza and other DOTC and ZTE Corp. officials were dismissed.

On Wednesday, the Concerned Citizens Movement led by former Vice-President Teofisto Guingona Jr., lawyer Harry Roque, and militant groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Kilusang Mayo Uno, and Bayan also filed for a motion to include President Arroyo and the First Gentleman in the graft charges.  

‘Political sponsor’

The Ombudsman, in its decision absolving Mr. Arroyo, said “the panel has not been presented with convincing and solid evidence directly or indirectly linking [him] in the project.”

“The one-paragraph exoneration of FG Mike Arroyo is insulting,” said Hontiveros. “FG’s role is instrumental, and only those pretending to be blind could ignore this,” she added.  

The petition argued that Lozada’s testimony in Senate hearings “strongly, if indirectly, implies that respondent Arroyo, at the behest of respondent Abalos, intervened in the process of awarding the ZTE contract.”

“Sandali teka tawagan natin si pare, tawagan natin si FG,” Lozada quoted Abalos as supposedly saying after Lozada explained that the broadband network is conceived to be a build-operate-transfer project, not a straight Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan. 

“At the very least, it is respectfully submitted that in view of the above, and similar evidence, this Honorable Office should have taken steps to inquire further into what, on its face, appears to be large-scale corruption and rampant abuse of authority at the very highest level of government,” the petition added.

“Binibeybi si FG Arroyo. Kahit na nag-inhibit daw si Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez-Navarro sa pagdinig ng kasong ito, kitang-kita naman ang special treatment na binigay ng Ombudsman sa First Gentleman,” Hontiveros said.