It was miscommunication, not a flip-flop - Palace on Neri

Malacañang on Tuesday said questions regarding the attendance of former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri to the Senate probe on the $329.4-million ZTE deal probably stemmed from miscommunication, but definitely not flip-flopping. Cerge Remonde, head of the Presidential Management Staff (PMS), insisted that the Arroyo administration has stood pat on its decision to allow Neri, current chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), as well as other senior Cabinet executives to attend the Senate hearing into the controversy. "Parang nagkulang sa coordination. Sa pag-uusap namin we have always said Secretary Neri will appear (It appears there was a lack of coordination. In our meetings we already agreed Neri will testify)," Remonde said on dzRH radio. Neri on Monday told congressmen at a budget deliberation hearing that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) "advised" him that he was part of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's entourage to the United States. Calling the President his "superior," Neri said he may be obliged to go but claimed his itinerary was separate from Mrs Arroyo's commitment at the United Nations assembly in New York. His departure would have prevented him from attending the Senate hearing into the national broadband network (NBN) project contract awarded to China's ZTE Corp. Remonde said that, "I do not understand why so many conflicting stories came out. The decision to allow Neri to face the Senate was made much earlier, when we started constructive engagement with them," Remonde said in Filipino. Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye on Monday initially called news about Neri's departure as "kuryente (erroneous report)." He later confirmed that Neri was indeed part of Mrs Arroyo's delegation, and eventually relayed via text message that, "ES (Executive Secretary) Eduardo Ermita advised Secretary Neri on PGMA's (President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's) instruction to stay behind and attend the Senate hearing." Neri was head of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) when the deal was signed. As this developed, Remonde said the Cabinet will no longer return to the Senate in "full force" like it did last Thursday. He said the "show of force" at the previous Senate hearing on the ZTE deal was more a "symbol of our cooperation with the Senate." "We sent the message that we want to cooperate with the Senate as much as we can," he said. However, he said Cabinet members who want to go can still go if they want to show support for Neri. As this developed, Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos has mapped out his plans for his showdown at the Senate with businessman Jose "Joey" de Venecia III. Abalos on Tuesday said he will raise questions on the motives of De Venecia, who accused the elections chair of lobbying heavily to let China's ZTE Corp. bag the NBN deal. "I'll start with the question, don't you find it strange that De Venecia was the one hounding me at my place, and I never went to his place? He's the one who kept showing up before me," he said in Filipino on dzMM radio. Abalos said it was strange that De Venecia sought him out "five to six" times at his "second home" in the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City. "De Venecia himself never said I sought him out. And I thought I was the one who needed a favor from him. Don't you find that strange?" Abalos asked. Abalos noted the younger De Venecia even hounded Secretary Leandro Mendoza and Undersecretary Lorenzo Formoso III of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). Abalos refused to comment on reports that he was the one who Neri a P200-million bribe for the ZTE deal. "Let's wait if he will say that. Besides, did Neri really say that? As far as I know, that's just speculation. And so far, it's only the media that's been saying it," he said. - GMANews.TV