BY JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR

EXECUTIVE Secretary Eduardo Ermita yesterday called on the Department of Justice to leave the investigation on the anomalies in the NBN-ZTE broadband deal to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Ermita said the Ombudsman is a more credible investigation body because it is "a separate and independent body" from the Executive branch.

President Arroyo has ordered the DOJ to investigate revelations of ZTE star witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. of alleged irregularities in the broadband deal.

Ermita downplayed Lozada’s testimony.

"Nagkaroon lang ng interest ang karamihan, sapagkat para bang, I don’t know, baka dahil sa kaiiyak niya he called too much attention to himself," he said.

He reiterated Malacañang is not moving to prevent Lozada from testifying in the Senate.

Ermita said Malacañang is not worried or concerned over plans of the Senate to invite some Chinese nationals to testify about the nuances of the broadband deal.

Senate President pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada called on President Arroyo to allow acting Higher Education chairman Romulo Neri to testify again in the ZTE probe if only to show that she is not hiding anything about the scandal.

"It is clear that Malacañang is preventing Neri from returning to the Senate and telling the whole truth of what he knows about the controversy," he said.

Estrada was reacting to Neri’s statement as quoted in media reports that "it was not his own decision to refuse to attend the hearings," and "I have to follow my superiors…. my bosses in the executive."

Neri last year testified that he told President Arroyo of a P200-million bribe offer by resigned elections chairman Benjamin Abalos in exchange for his office’s (NEDA) approval of the broadband project.

But Neri refused to disclose what he and the President discussed, invoking executive privilege.

Estrada supported the appeal of Lozada for Neri to just "follow his heart and tell the truth."

"Chairman Neri is the one who could – and must – supply the final piece in this puzzle," Estrada said.

A Senate investigating panel led by Senate President Manuel Villar and Blue Ribbon chair Alan Peter Cayetano will conduct today an ocular inspection of the route taken by Lozada and his escorts at the NAIA terminal 1.

"Mas maganda talagang doon mismo ipakita kung saan dumating iyong mga kumuha kay Mr. Lozada at saan sila umalis, kung saan naghihintay ang asawa at mga kapatid," Villar said.

Cayetano said there would be some restrictions on the media as only senators and committee staff would be admitted in some restricted areas in the airport.

Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza said he would not heed calls for his resignation, as demanded by the Makati Business Club through its executive director, Alberto Lim.

"It would be the height of absurdity to bow to his wish," Atienza said.

"My only fault is my immediate response to help a person who claimed to be in severe danger," he said.

The MBC had asked for the resignation of Atienza and Neri, saying they had lost the "moral authority" to stay in office.

"The facts are plain, clear and simple and supported by Jun Lozada’s own admission that it was he who approached me and sought my help. And as his superior at the time, I responded the best I could to his pleas. Thus, during the Senate hearing, he even approached me and, in front of the cameras, apologized," Atienza said. – With Dennis Gadil and Job Realubit