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MANILA, Philippines -- First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo has confirmed that he met with Jose “Joey” de Venecia III at a golf clubhouse, but said it was “a purely chance encounter” that did not include his ordering the businessman to “back off” from the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal.

Jesus Santos, lawyer and spokesperson of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband, said his client did meet with De Venecia in mid-March. But his version of the meeting differed greatly from that of Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.’s son.

For one, according to Santos, Arroyo denied bullying De Venecia to pull out of the $329-million NBN deal in favor of China’s ZTE Corp., as the businessman-owner of Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI) claimed on Tuesday at the initial hearing of the Senate’s inquiry into the deal.

“Why would the First Gentleman berate the Speaker’s son when the incident being referred to by Joey was the first meeting between him and Mr. Arroyo -- a purely chance encounter?” Santos said Wednesday at a press conference in Makati City.

Santos said Arroyo, who quietly flew to Hong Kong en route to Europe on Monday, had merely “reminded” De Venecia that his being the Speaker’s son made it inappropriate for him to get involved in government contracts.

For another, Arroyo denied that Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos -- the alleged broker of the deal with ZTE -- was at the meeting at the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City, Santos said.

Quoting his client, Santos said only Arroyo, De Venecia and Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza were present.

De Venecia said Arroyo’s version of their meeting was “totally false.”

‘Whole cabal was there’

“There wasn’t even an exchange of small talk. He just told me to ‘back off,’” De Venecia said in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Regarding Arroyo’s claim that Abalos was absent at the meeting, De Venecia said the whole “cabal” was there.

“Chairman Abalos was there, Larry Mendoza was there, Jimmy dela Paz was there, Quirino dela Torre was there, Ruben Reyes was there,” De Venecia added.

Dela Paz was Abalos’ chief of staff, Dela Torre was the Philippine National Police comptroller when Mendoza was PNP chief while Reyes is a golfing buddy of Abalos and a former classmate of the President’s brother, Diosdado Macapagal Jr.

Santos said he phoned his client shortly after De Venecia’s testimony at the Senate.

3-minute conversation

During the three-minute conversation, Santos said, he advised Arroyo to cut short his two-week vacation in Europe, and Arroyo responded that he would be back “soon” to answer De Venecia’s accusations.

Santos said he did not ask about his client’s whereabouts.

Asked if Arroyo intended to testify at the Senate if invited, Santos said: “Yes, he will. The First Gentleman has nothing to hide.”

But Sergio Apostol, the President’s chief legal adviser, told reporters in Malacañang that not even a subpoena from the Senate blue ribbon committee could compel Arroyo to testify.

Apostol said he would not advise Arroyo to attend a “stressful” Senate hearing following a life-threatening heart operation on April 9.

“Definitely not. I think the doctors will not advise him to appear because they do not want him to undergo any stress,” Apostol said.

Even Sen. Panfilo Lacson said “it would be better if we just excuse him or ask his doctor’s permission if he can withstand the rigors of a hearing.”

The Tuesday hearing lasted more than five hours, with no lunch break.

“I am particularly reluctant to call him to a hearing if he is not fit for it,” Lacson, who had earlier accused Arroyo of keeping campaign money under the “Jose Pidal” accounts, told reporters.

At Wack Wack

This was Santos’ account of the “chance encounter”:

Arroyo was at the Wack Wack clubhouse after a round of golf when De Venecia arrived and sat beside Mendoza at a nearby table.

Arroyo overheard De Venecia following up with Mendoza the AHI proposal on the broadband project. At this point, Arroyo asked Mendoza about his companion, leading Mendoza to make introductions.

“De Venecia continued to follow up his project proposal with Mendoza, prompting Mr. Arroyo to remind the young De Venecia that he cannot be involved in any government transaction because he is the son of the Speaker,” Santos said.

“After this, Mr. Arroyo immediately joined other friends at another table,” Santos said, contradicting De Venecia’s statement that Arroyo had thrust a finger at his face and barked at him to back off from the deal.

In a statement distributed to reporters, Santos pointed out that De Venecia’s Sept. 10 affidavitmade no mention of Arroyo’s supposed participation in the NBN deal.

“So why will Mr. Arroyo pressure or intimidate him, if the First Gentleman has nothing to do at all with the project?” the lawyer said, adding:

“It defies common sense and can only mean that maybe the young De Venecia has been coached to say that.”

Used ‘back off’ 5 times

Santos said De Venecia’s remark that Arroyo had told him to “back off” rang false.

He said it was obvious that De Venecia himself thought up the phrase, adding that “in the five years” that he had worked with Arroyo, “I’ve never heard him say something like that.”

“I’m sure he never said that,” he stressed.

To press his point, Santos showed reporters a copy of De Venecia’s affidavit, in which the businessman used the phrases “back off” and “backing off” at least five times.

For example, in paragraph 32 of the nine-page affidavit, De Venecia said: “I could not back off on behalf of AHI, and besides, AHI’s proposal was far superior to the original Abalos-ZTE proposal, and it would be more advantageous to the government … ”

He said in paragraph 15: “Chairman Abalos would consistently request for meetings during the latter half of December 2006, so that he could convince me to either back off from the deal or be his partner.”

Santos also indicated what could be a crack in the relations between the First Family and the Speaker.

He said that in his opinion, it would “not be believable for any young person to do something without the permission of their parents.”

“Among us Filipinos, it’s very common [for us to] consult our parents first before doing something,” he said.

Asked if he believed that De Venecia had his father’s blessing to do what he did, Santos said: “I would not want to speculate.”

For health reasons

On April 21, the President left her ailing husband’s bedside for 12 hours and flew to China to witness the signing of the NBN agreement by Mendoza and ZTE vice president Yu Yong.

Apostol denied Wednesday that Malacañang’s decision not to allow Arroyo to attend the Senate inquiry had political undertones. He said it was only “for health reasons.”

“In fact, that is what the doctors keep on emphasizing. He (Arroyo) is recuperating; he should not be doing things that will be stressful,” Apostol said.

Told that the Senate blue ribbon committee could possibly cite Arroyo for contempt, Apostol said: “It will depend again on the senators. A health reason is always a valid reason in all investigative bodies. But I think he would not be cited for contempt. There is no basis for that.”

Lacson himself said he would “even manifest, if necessary,” that Arroyo not be summoned to the inquiry “because of his health.”

“It’s not for anything [else],” the senator said. “We are all Christians. No matter how important the information we need to extract from him, if there are health constraints, we should just wait.”

Legal excuse

Lacson also said the hearings could go on even without Arroyo’s testimony on what supposedly happened at the Wack Wack meeting with De Venecia.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Arroyo should be legally excused from the hearings given his condition.

Arroyo’s heart surgeon, Dr. Rommel Cariño, said on Tuesday that Arroyo had asked permission to go on a two-week trip to Europe. He said he had given the go-signal, but conceded to the Inquirer that his patient’s departure -- on the eve of the Senate inquiry --was timed badly.

It was not the only case of bad timing for the President’s husband.

On May 20, 2005, amid accusations that he had received kickbacks from “jueteng,” he flew to Singapore. Santos, his lawyer, dismissed talk that his sudden departure was related to the controversy, and said Arroyo had just gone on vacation with his siblings Ignacio and Marilou.

Arroyo returned on May 29.

On June 30, a day after the President announced that her husband had volunteered to go abroad “to remove himself from any situation that [would] cast doubt on [her] presidency,” Arroyo flew to Hong Kong.

He came back after three days but left again, this time for the United States on July 6.

Arroyo flew back on July 31 to attend the burial of his half-sister, then returned to the United States on Aug. 10.

He stayed there until late October. With reports from Michael Lim Ubac, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. and Inquirer Research