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FORMER
Philippine National Oil Corp. (PNOC) president Eduardo
Mañalac on Sunday strongly denied reports that he would
be testifying at the Senate probe into the national
broadband deal with ZTE Co. and is mulling legal action
against those who ran the story.
An
apparently irate Mañalac said in a statement forwarded
by Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye to Palace reporters
that he was even forced to cancel an important business
trip so that it would not be misinterpreted as an
attempt to flee the country to avoid appearing before
the Senate hearing.
“I
categorically deny announcements made on the front page
of the Philippine Daily Inquirer today that I am
scheduled to testify on the ZTE broadband deal…. I have
never met or been contacted by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, whom
the article claims is to present a surprise witness, and
have no idea how or why my name would be mentioned in
this connection,” Manalac said.
He said
that he has “never been involved in any conversation
ianvolving the ZTE investigations, do not know any ZTE
details, large or small, other than what I read in the
newspapers or watch on television, and have never been
called by the Senate or any other group to talk about
any issues regarding this matter.”
“I
strongly reiterate my noninvolvement in the ZTE deal and
express total shock at finding my name and picture in
the front page of the Inquirer in connection with this
issue. Worse than hearsay, this article is a complete
falsehood,” he said.
Manalac
said he has never met the author of the story, nor was
even contacted “to corroborate this piece of false
information.”
Manalac
resigned as PNOC president in November 2006 to return to
the private sector “and was never involved in any way,
shape or form during the negotiations for or the signing
of the ZTE deal.”
Prior to
his stint at the PNOC, he worked for US-based oil
company Conoco-Phillips for 28 years, and was based in
Beijing
from 1995 to 2005 as the company’s vice president for
exploration.
“I did
not work, as the article claims, for any state-owned
Chinese companies,” he said. |
