Lacson admits potential witness in ZTE scandal demanded fee

A man had offered to bare more anomalies in the government’s national broadband network (NBN) project with ZTE Corp. of China in exchange for P5 million to P10 million but later changed his mind and agreed to do it for free, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.

Lacson said the potential witness, whom he declined to identify, once called his office to offer his testimony for P5 million. He said the man had reportedly asked for P10 million from the other senators.

“But now the person will come out and say what he knew of the (ZTE) deal in exchange for nothing,” Lacson said during a forum at Ciudad Fernandina in Greenhills, San Juan City.

Initially, Lacson said he thought the witness was a “Trojan Horse” and directed his staff to reject his offer. The term “Trojan Horse,” derived from Virgil’s epic poem “Aeneid,” is a metaphor for an infiltrator in disguise.

“It is not advisable to announce the identity of the next witness as it will only pre-empt the ongoing investigation in the Senate,” Lacson said.

The senator indicated that the witness, aside from being a “techie person,” was also a consultant of the cancelled ZTE deal, like Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr.

But in another interview, Lacson mentioned a certain Dante Madriaga as a possible witness but said he was not sure if he was the same man being bandied about as the next witness by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

Email messages containing the supposed breakdown of commission among those involved in the NBN deal with ZTE have been traced to Madriaga.

“I have an idea who this techie is because he approached me, if we are referring to the same person, Dante Madriaga,” Lacson said.

“He approached some members of my staff, but I shot him down at once. I told my staff not to talk to him because at the time he was peddling his testimony,” he said.

“But I said if he were asking for money from the start, forget it,” Lacson said.

Lacson said Madriaga claimed to have detailed knowledge of the costing of the NBN project.

“Lately he’s not demanding anything and (he said) he was not responsible for the money being demanded – they were only brokers,” Lacson said. “When he comes here and testifies, that is what I will ask, if he asked for money or if he authorized some people to do it for him,” Lacson pointed out.

“If you are selling your testimony, that makes you vulnerable. Assuming that what you are going to say is true, then it will be very easy for the Palace to buy the truth from you. But that is a long time ago, his coming out did not push through,” he stressed.

Witness protection program

Meanwhile, Lacson said he has already filed amendments to the existing laws on the government’s witness protection program (WPP).

“Graduated ang reward na matatanggap ng informant or witness, ranging from P5 million down to P50,000 depending upon the salary grade of the affected government employee,” he said, referring to the proposed amendments.

If a witness gives out sensitive information involving government employees with salary grades between one and four and if a probable cause is established, the witness gets P50,000.

In case the government recovers something out of the information, the witness will receive 10 percent of the amount recovered.

“It is not only the Department of Justice that has jurisdiction over the WPP, but the Ombudsman which is the implementing agency over graft charges,” Lacson said.

‘Scripted’ probe

Lacson said the probes launched by the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman appeared “scripted.”

“Nagulat nga ako, nang magsulputan ang mga nakaka-shock na ebidensya (I was surprised with the sprouting of shocking evidence). Why all of a sudden all the agencies are enthusiastic to file cases. Mukhang may sinusunod silang (It seems they’re following a) script,” he said.

When asked how he felt about the criticism being thrown at Philippine National Police chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr., Lacson said the police chief “is finding himself in a difficult situation.”

On former elections chief Benjamin Abalos, Lacson said his promise to testify at the Senate was all for show. “He keeps on saying on TV that he’s ready to attend the Senate hearings but once he is called, he doesn’t show up.”

Lacson said he is willing to give his side on the Dec. 7 secret meeting with Commission on Higher Education Chairman Romulo Neri, during which the latter called President Arroyo “evil.”   – With Aurea Calica