Joey de Venecia’s statement

BELOW is the full text of the statement read under oath by Jose de Venecia III at the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing this morning on the controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) contract:

Recent events, interviews, and news reports have revealed that the DOTC-ZTE broadband deal is illegal, grossly disadvantageous to the government, and unjustly burdensome to the Filipino people because of the ridiculous overpricing of this project and the huge kickbacks anticipated by those who brokered this anomalous deal. The public is now aware not only of the tip of this abominable iceberg but also of the massive mountain of graft and corruption that dwells underneath.

Being one of the beneficial owners of Amsterdam Holdings, Inc., I was unwittingly exposed to the stink of what is now the DOTC-ZTE broadband deal. In December 2006, AHI filed its unsolicited proposal for the NBN project and was keen on its becoming the original proponent of the project under the BOT Law. Little did I know that certain vested interests were already at work to rig the award of the project to ZTE.

Because of my company, AHI, was being considered by the DOTC and the NEDA as the original proponent, I was approached by an unlikely but senior powerful person who offered a technical cooperating partnership with ZTE to push the deal through. I was initially wooed and eventually persuaded, badgered, and partnership. It was there that I found out that the ZTE proposal was, as early as then, overpriced by 100 percent or $130 million to accommodate the advances and kickbacks to be received by this powerful person. This powerful person even had the temerity to demand on the spot payment and the gall to mention the name of my President GMA and my father, the Speaker, as being the recipients of the kickbacks.

I was shocked, offended, and aghast. I immediately pulled to the side this senior powerful person and head of a Constitutional Commission no less to warn him against the gratuitous namedropping of persons I knew for a fact had no actual knowledge and involvement in the NBN project. I was sure that my President GMA and my father, the Speaker, was (sic) unaware of the intricate technology details of the NBN project and could not stomach the fact that my President and my Speaker would be dragged into a transaction that required undisclosed advances and under-the-table kickbacks to sweeten the deal.

Having discovered the kickbacks, I had overwhelming reservations against ZTE piggy-backing on our proposal. First, our proposal offered to execute the project without any government loan or sovereign guarantee that would only translate to more debt for the country. On the other hand, ZTE’s proposal required a huge government-to-government loan that masked the onerous kickbacks changing hands under the table. Second, I could see no point in saddling the Filipino people with more debt when my company had offered a technically superior project at no corresponding cost to the government. Third, neither I nor my foreign partners would accede to a sweetheart proposal that was riddled with graft, corruption, and the massive plunder of the taxpayer’s money.

Sickened with what the ZTE proposal embodied, I informed my partners through telephone about my objections against and refusal to partner up with ZTE. Shortly after these conversations, I received a furious and enraged call from the senior powerful person, who was fuming mad over the conversations I thought I had in private.

When I asked this powerful person how he got his information, he shouted that he had my cellphone bugged and threatened to give me and my father a transcript of my conversations with my partners. I calmly requested that I be given such a transcript because I know that wiretapping is illegal and I would happily stand by my convictions against the ZTE proposal before my father. I never did receive the transcripts.

I was however offered several opportunities to reconcile with this senior powerful person by Sec. Leandro Mendoza. Although I had no intention to pursue the partnership and was intent to push for AHI’s proposal on the basis of its merits, I would not decline the opportunity to patch things up with the powerful person. In one such reconciliatory meeting, the person the media has now dubbed as the “Mystery Man” attended the meeting. His participation in the NBN project is however still unclear to me. I only know that he was present at a meeting where intermediaries sought to clear the air between the powerful person and I. Needless to state, the ZTE broadband project was discussed openly in the meeting.

As I had feared, despite my efforts to dissuade decision-makers from inking the deal with ZTE, it appears that AHI’s unsolicited proposal was shelved in favor of the overpriced ZTE proposal. Although I am no longer , under oath, interested in the project, my company has filed a petition before the Supreme Court to compel the DOTC to reveal the terms of the ZTE deal for the sake of transparency and public information. Beyond that, again I repeat, I have no further interest in the NBN project.

Many have said that I am only sourgraping because my company and I lost the project. If this deal goes through, it is not only my loss but the loss of the entire Filipino people. This is what I seek to prevent.

I have been constrained to execute an affidavit detailing the graft and corruption and betrayal of the public trust that is the NBN project. I have named the senior powerful person in my affidavit and do so name, before this Honorable Chamber, and under oath, the powerful person as Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos. It was Chairman Abalos who championed in pushing for the ZTE proposal. It was also Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos who stood to receive for himself any kickbacks from the colossal overpricing of the NBN project.

(Download de Venecia’s affidavit.)

It was Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos who fumed and raged at me when he found out that AHI would be pursuing its original contract as submitted to the DOTC without the unnecessary government loan or guaranty. True to form, it was also him that threatened to have Jarius Bondoc and I killed for informing the public of his wrongdoings. When my father suggested the rescission of the ZTE deal, it was also Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos who refused and said “Then Joey will win.” It was then that he threatened my life.

I had previously promised to reveal the identity of the “Mystery Man” under oath and in the proper forum. It is with a heavy heart that I cannot deny that it was First Gentleman Mike Arroyo at the reconciliatory meeting. I do however want to make clear that it was his presence alone that I observed and I have no other indication of his participation in the NBN project or deal with ZTE.

I executed my affidavit and make my statements not only now in the spirit of truth and transparency. I have never intended to malign or defame any person. It is in this light that I offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies and regrets to Police General Edgar Dula Torres, who I mistakenly named as part of the Chairman’s cabal. I was only recently informed that it was actually Police General Quirino dela Torre who accompanied Chairman Abalos when we had met on the NBN project.

To Police General Edgar Dula Torres, his spouse, and his family, I offer my sincerest apologies for any inconvenience and ill-repute I may have caused you.

Aside from that regretful error, I stand by the contents of my affidavit. I have, against the well-meaning advice of my friends and loved-ones, disclosed all I know about the NBN project and have sadly exposed myself, my partners, and my family to unimaginable risk and attack form undisclosed quarters. This is the price I have to pay for following my conscience and performing my civic duty.

I now testify before this honorable Chamber as part of this civic duty and in support of any legislation to strengthen and expand the BOT law. I remain steadfast in my belief that such legislation can only prevent government projects form being vehicles for corrupt and illegal enrichment at the expense of the Filipino people.