Ping keeps witness vs 'Greedy Group' in pectore

BY DENNIS GADIL

SENATE Blue Ribbon chair Alan Peter Cayetano said yesterday he is still clueless on the identity of Sen. Panfilo Lacson's new witness who is set to testify in today's resumption of the Senate's ZTE inquiry.

Cayetano said he is relying on Lacson's word that the new witness will be useful in the investigation.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II, chair of the trade and commerce panel, said Lacson volunteered to give the name of the new witness but he declined the offer. "Bukas ko na lang aalamin," he told Lacson.

Lacson has said his witness would disclose information on how the $49 million advances from the ZTE Corp. were disbursed to the "Greedy Group" of former Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos Sr.

Walk-in witness Dante Madriaga, who claims he was a former ZTE consultant, in his earlier testimony identified the rest of the members of the Greedy Group as retired Gen. Quirino de la Torre, Leo San Miguel, Ruben Reyes and Jaime Paz.

Cayetano said they have summoned at least 18 resource persons led by Abalos, his supposed "Greedy Group," and ZTE officials Yu Yong and Fan Yang.

Sen. Jamby Madrigal said she knows the new witness but has kept the identity to herself.

"I won't say the name because the testimony would be damaging," she said.

Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan expressed fear that the Ombudsman investigation would end up exonerating those involved in the alleged overpriced national broadband network project thaty had been awarded to the Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

"Nakakabahala kasi na mababalitaan nating nagagamit ang Ombudsman para isalba ang iilang tao, kapalit ng katotohanan," he said.

Former Senate President Franklin Drilon, citing "questionable impartiality," urged Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona to inhibit himself from the case of acting Higher Education chair Romulo Neri.

Drilon said the declaration of support by Corona's wife Cristina for President Arroyo last week has put her husband's impartiality in question.

Drilon said Mrs. Corona was one of the signatories in a newspaper advertisement last February 28 that expressed "strong support" for President Arroyo in the face of the ZTE- NBN scandal.

"The issue raised by Chairman Neri questioning the Senate's move to cite him for contempt is merely coincidental. The principal issue here is whether President Arroyo can invoke executive privilege and prevent her officials from testifying before congressional investigations to allegedly conceal a crime," Drilon said. - With JP Lopez