Neri confirms secret meeting with Lacson, Jamby, Lozada

Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri has confirmed his secret December 2007 meeting with some opposition senators and the ZTE star witness who were then stunned to hear him blast the Arroyo administration. In a GMA News interview aired on early evening newscast 24 Oras, Neri admitted venting his frustrations in the secret meeting inside a Makati bistro on December 7 last year. It was attended by Senators Panfilo Lacson and Ma Ana Consuelo “Jamby" Madrigal and Rodolfo Lozada Jr. GMA News had sought Neri to verify an email the network received regarding the secret meeting, to which he replied: “Jun (Lozada) arranged it and since he doesn’t want to go the Senate, I was willing to talk to any senator on how we can avoid his going there." When GMA News asked Lacson and Lozada for their comments on Neri’s confirmation of the meeting, the two were surprised because they said they have an agreement that the gathering was supposed to have never happened. “Akala ko ba (I thought) that meeting was supposed to have never happened," a beaming Lozada told GMA News. In a text message to GMA News, Lacson said: “The meeting ‘never happened.’ It should remain that way unless Mr Neri who made such proposition, to which I agreed, breaks his own silence or gives permission to divulge the details of our discussions in that meeting." Lacson said that now that Neri has spoken, the details of the December meeting could now be revealed at the Senate hearing on Monday. He said he would ask Lozada to do so. Meanwhile, Neri confirmed that he had planned to leave the government in April last year. “Sometimes I feel like retiring so many times already. This was not the first time or the last time. We have our frustrations in the government but you have a duty to do," Neri told GMA News. Lozada claimed that during the meeting Neri bared the mechanics of grafters in the government. "Matindi. Ang dami nang sinabi niya. Nag-present pa siya kung papaano ang mga kalokohan sa gobyerno," Lozada said. (So intense. He said many things. He even discussed the malpractices in the government.) In reaction, Neri said: “Sometimes you say things at the height of your emotion. I talked about reforms and sometimes I got emotional." Neri denied he called President Gloria Arroyo “evil woman" during the meeting as claimed by Lozada. Neri had testified that former poll chief Benjamin Abalos offered him a bribe to approve the ZTE proposal to build the National Broadband Network for $329 million, which he refused. Neri stopped short of linking President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo or her husband to the scandal. Neri's former consultant, Lozada, has surfaced in the Senate after claiming he was held for two days by government agents to prevent him from speaking. He said he discussed the deal with ZTE officials but failed to ''moderate the greed'' of brokers like Abalos, who last year quit as the elections chief. He also claimed Abalos threatened to kill him if he did not secure a kickback for him. ZTE denied any connection with Lozada. It said the ''political noise'' was saddening because ZTE has a clean and proven record of 20 years in international telecommunications.- GMANews.TV