Email and signature

San Miguel says he had no contracts with ZTE. “All of this was verbal,” he says. He adds that he hired Dante Madriaga but did not meet with him often. Madriaga confirms this. However, Madriaga says San Miguel emailed him a correspondence about “tong-pats” or “patong,” referring to kickbacks. San Miguel studies a document Madriaga produces, one about Madriaga’s scope of work with ZTE, and says that the signature on the contract was not his. San Miguel shows them his signature on his credit card, and asks the commission to compare the two. “By the way, I want my card back,” he says.

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Commissions but ‘logical’

Estrada asks San Miguel again about kickbacks. He says commissions were discussed privately among the Philippine group, so he would not know about such arrangements. This group, he says, includes Reyes and Abalos. He clarifies that it is logical for commissions to be part of any deal but that he did not hear it being discussed openly during the meeting.

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Traveling with Abalos, dela Torre

Estrada, holding San Miguel’s travel records, asks San Miguel about his trips outside the country. He says he travels “quite a lot” to China. He is asked whether he has traveled with Chairman Abalos. He says he could not remember. Estrada asks him about his trip to Hong Kong where he stayed with Abalos in the same hotel. San Miguel confirms this and says ZTE paid for their expenses. He says his trips to China were always at the request of ZTE. Estrada asks him about San Miguel’s trip to Malaysia with Gen. dela Torre. San Miguel does not deny this, and says dela Torre was his business partner.

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Abalos’ participation

Sen. Estrada asks San Miguel about his technical expertise. He briefly summarizes his career as a telecommunications executive. Estrada asks if he could distinguish between an original and copied tape or VCD or DVD. He says yes, with the proper equipment. Estrada asks him about the participation of Chairman Abalos. San Miguel says Abalos was there with Ruben Reyes during some of the ZTE meetings. “I could only assume that he was part of the Philippine team.”

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San Miguel points finger at Reyes

Lacson asks San Miguel if he was involved in facilitating the ZTE deal. “It was Mr. Ruben Reyes. My job is technical. Mr. Ruben Reyes is the one who introduced me to ZTE through Gen. de la Torre, so please don’t expect too much from me because I am purely technical.”

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San Miguel admonished

Sen. Pimentel admonishes San Miguel, asking him not to “test our patience by insisting that your participation is purely technical. We want to know what you heard, what you know about the deal.” Sen. Lacson agrees. “You cannot escape telling the truth.”

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Was he there or was he not?

San Miguel says he has never met First Gentleman Arroyo and denies he was in the room with him during the “back off” incident. Jose de Venecia III belies this, saying San Miguel was there. San Miguel replies: “Again I reiterate my participation in this is purely technical.” The gallery reacts in disbelief.

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$262M price tag to $329M

San Miguel is asked to justify why the NBN-ZTE project shot up to $329 million. He fetches his notes, and says that their original proposal to the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) was $262 million, but the coverage was only for 42 base stations or about 1,733 barangays. The final proposal given to Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), he says, had a different requirement, and that they had to redraw the configuration, and so the final price increased to $329 million. The coverage, he says, increased from 1,733 to 25,000 barangays, covering first to sixth-class municipalities.

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San Miguel reiterates statement

San Miguel defends himself by saying that he is a technical person and would readily answer any technical questions from the committee. But as to kickbacks, he says he is not aware of any. “I am not denying, I am not agreeing, I just don’t know,” he says. Sen. Lacson reminds San Miguel that he is under oath. He badgers San Miguel, and asks for a simple “yes” or “no” whether there were advances and commissions. San Miguel reiterates that he has no direct knowledge of such kickbacks.

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Not aware of advances, says San Miguel

Sen. Lacson asks San Miguel if advances were indeed given to certain people. He says his refunds were not advances. “I could not confirm any such advances because my role was really limited to technical issues,” he says. San Miguel adds that he did not interface with the government and spoke only with ZTE. Lacson says other resource persons talked about commissions, and wonders why San Miguel, who had “extensive dealings” with the ZTE project, did not know of any such “commissions and kickbacks.”

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