BY JOJO DE GUZMAN

PALAYAN CITY - Former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. will testify at the NBN-ZTE probe in the Senate after the State of the Nation Address of President Arroyo on July 28, his son Joey said.

He said his father is in Madrid for an energy summit. "Ang sabi niya haharap siya. It could be before the end of this month after GMA's SONA."

The younger De Venecia was guest of honor at the 60th Charter anniversary of the Rotary Club of Cabanatuan at the Nueva Ecija Convention Center Thursday.

Last month, the elder De Venecia said he is willing to testify about what transpired in the meeting between President Arroyo and ZTE officials in Shenzhen, China in December 2006 at the "appropriate time."

The meeting was held four months before the signing of the national broadband project with ZTE Corp in Boao, China which was witnessed by the President.

Blue Ribbon chair Alan Peter Cayetano has said he is giving the former Speaker until next month to appear in the Senate probe.

"I'll set a final hearing with or without him. I think one month of waiting is reasonable enough. Sana lumabas na siya para matapos na ito," he said.

The younger De Venecia III, whose Amsterdam Holdings Inc. was a NBN proponent, had accused presidential spouse Mike Arroyo of telling him to back off from the project.

He said he would advise his father to just file a case before the Office of the Ombudsman "but he is his own man."

He said he has no plans of filing a motion for reconsideration on the July 14 decision of the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition filed by his firm Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI), a proponent on the broadband project, questioning the legality of the NBN-ZTE contract.