Include Mike Arroyo in ZTE-NBN charge sheet, Ombudsman asked

First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo should be included in the charge sheet for the $329.4-million ZTE national broadband network mess, Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada and Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said Friday in an appeal filed before the Office of the Ombudsman. In their six-page motion for reconsideration, Hontiveros and Lozada said the Ombudsman should take into consideration parts of Lozada's testimony in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee citing the First Gentleman's involvement in the deal as its "political sponsor." "We cannot allow the big fish to go scot-free," Hontiveros said in a statement. [See: Looking Back: The ZTE-NBN controversy] Last week, the Office of the Ombudsman recommended the filing of graft charges against former Elections chief Benjamin Abalos and incumbent Social Security System (SSS) president Romulo Neri in relation to the ZTE-NBN mess. But in the same 144-page decision signed by Overall Deputy Ombudsman Orlando Casimiro, President Gloria Macapagal was dropped as a respondent due to presidential immunity from legal suits. The investigating panel also dismissed for lack of probable cause the complaints against Mr. Arroyo, several government officials, and ZTE executives. "How can they claim that there’s nothing in the testimony that suggests any indirect or direct involvement of FG [First Gentleman] Arroyo when Abalos himself, as attested by Jun Lozada, called FG to clinch the loan from China? FG’s role is instrumental, and only those pretending to be blind could ignore this," Hontiveros said. The Concerned Citizens Movement led by lawyer Harry Roque - who were one of those who filed the several complaints against Abalos, Neri, the First Couple, and other players in the controversy - have earlier said they would appeal the Ombudsman ruling before the Supreme Court within the next two months. - GMANews.TV