It looks like there was indeed an attempt to bribe former chief economic planner Romulo Neri to approve the government’s US$329-million contract for a national broadband network with the Chinese firm ZTE.

This is how it supposedly happened. Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos approached Neri to ask for “help” with the deal, Neri then being the director of the National Economic Development Authority and chair of the Investment Coordinating Council.

“I’ll take a look at it,” Neri reportedly replied, meaning he wanted to study the contract.

Abalos was said to have taken that to mean that Neri was against the deal, so the elections chief quickly offered, in Filipino, “There’s 200 for you here.”

When a shocked Neri asked what Abalos meant, the latter looked like he thought Neri was saying, “Only P200,000?” So Abalos clarified, “P200 million.” Neri was said to have thought, “What’s in this contract that they would give somebody like me P200 million to approve it?”

Abalos didn’t physically show the money—and the conversation ended there.

When Neri informed President Arroyo about the bribery attempt, she supposedly asked him, “What did you do?” Learning that Neri refused the offer, Ms. Arroyo allegedly said that he can forget the money but he should just go ahead and approve the contract.

Two days later, Neri was removed from Neda to become officer in charge of the Commission on Higher Education.

Now, how did we learn of this story?

A politician thought he was one of a few confidantes to whom Neri bared his soul, sharing this juicy, insider story. Imagine his surprise when, a day or so later, the politician found out that others in and outside of government knew about Neri’s close encounter with Abalos. Our own contacts learned about this story from Neri himself, too.

One of our colleagues likened Neri to a broken-hearted lover, who has to unburden himself as a form of therapy so he can finally move on. We have called this the “Romy Neri moment.”

In public, Neri has chosen not to confirm or deny this bribe try. But with the number of confidantes he has unburdened to, the story has already taken a life of its own.

The Inside Track is Newsbreak's intelligencer section. It features the latest buzz on juicy political and business goings on.

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