Ex-Philippine officials urge Arroyo to come clean

A protester carries a placard calling for the ousting of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during a rally in the capital's financial district of Makati City, Metro Manila February 29, 2008. About 60 former top Philippine government officials urged Arroyo on Tuesday to lift restrictions on information about a multi-million dollar telecoms deal tainted by corruption allegations.

MANILA (Reuters) - About 60 former top Philippine government officials urged President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Tuesday to lift restrictions on information about a multi-million dollar telecoms deal tainted by corruption allegations.

The former state officials also called on her to suspend two Cabinet members, the head of the national police and four others for trying to stop a witness from testifying at a Senate inquiry into accusations of $130 million paid in kickbacks on the deal.

"The president should act immediately and decisively to enable the truth to emerge," read a statement signed by the ex-officials, including former central bank governor Jose Cuisia and four one-time finance chiefs.

"The president must demonstrate her commitment to the truth through these actions within one week ... or the people will make their judgment and act on the basis of their conviction."

The intervention came on the same day as Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, formally denied wrongdoing at an inquiry into the deal by the anti-graft Ombudsman.

The ex-officials want Arroyo to allow her former Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri to resume his testimony before the Senate and release all public documents about the telecoms deal.

They also wanted her to stop state agencies from harassing a witness in the Senate inquiry, Rodolfo Lozada, to prevent him from giving information about irregularities in the $329 million contract.

"This is the best way to get to the truth," Cuisia said as he and 20 former senior officials in the government faced reporters at a clubhouse in Manila.

Vicente Paterno, a former trade minister in the governments of former presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino, said the allegations of multi-million dollar kickbacks have outraged many middle-class Filipinos.

On Friday, tens of thousands of people gathered in Manila's financial district calling for Arroyo to step down, the biggest crowd since about 40,000 protested against her in 2005 amid allegations she cheated in the 2004 election.

Some Roman Catholic bishops, priests and nuns and business and civil society groups vowed to hold more and larger protests against the president until she was forced to go, accusing her of covering up for her husband and officials.

Arroyo's husband attended the anti-graft Ombudsman's inquiry on Tuesday, but did not speak, allowing his lawyer to submit his affidavit denying involvement in the kickbacks scandal.

He and golfing buddy Benjamin Abalos, who was forced to resign as head of the elections commission, are among those accused of asking $130 million from China's ZTE Corp to secure the telecoms deal.

Abalos was also accused of offering a 200 million pesos bribe to Neri to facilitate the deal, which Neri had affirmed during his testimony in a Senate inquiry.

But, he declined to give more details, invoking executive privilege when asked about his conversations with the president about Abalos' bribe offer.

The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments over a petition by senators to lift an executive order preventing senior government officials from appearing in legislative inquiries into corruption in the Arroyo government.

The court was not expected to decide within the day on the petition that may allow Neri to resume his testimony in the Senate inquiry and detail how the broadband network contract was approved and awarded to ZTE.

(Reporting by Manny Mogato; editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)