Rodolfo Noel Lozada on Wednesday blasted Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite for claiming that the P500,000 the official gave him did not come from government coffers but from private funds that should be paid.
“Siguro matatalino na ang mga Filipino para paniwalaan pa ang mga gan’on (Perhaps Filipinos are intelligent enough not to believe those lies)," he said in an interview with GMA News.
Lozada said he still believes the P500,000 cash came from government funds.
Lozada had said Gaite gave him P500,000 as spending money while the former government consultant for the national broadband project was in Hong Kong. Lozada said he was bundled off to Hong Kong so he need not face a Senate inquiry last Jan. 30.
He said it was odd that someone whom he met very rarely would lend him a big amount of money.
“Maybe in a lifetime we've met twice, maximum three times. Pero ikaw ba, Kara (referring to interviewer GMA reporter Kara David), ilang beses na tayo nagkita? Siguro mga apat, limang beses na ‘no? Pag ako ba nanghingi sa iyo ng P500,000 bibigyan mo ako?" he said.
(Let’s say you, Kara, how many times have we met? Maybe four or five times. If would ask you P500,000 will you give me the money?)
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita also on Wednesday said Gaite is ready to face the next Senate hearing on the botched ZTE deal to explain the source of the money.
"In the end, I supposed the owner of the fund has the right to claim that because that is a private fund," Ermita said. - GMANews.TV