MANILA, Philippines -- Petitions to include anew First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in the case involving an allegedly anomalous multimillion telecommunications contract was filed Friday at the Office of yhe Ombudsman.

Akbayan partylist Representative Risa Hontiveros and engineer Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada lodged separate petitions against Arroyo in the national broadband network project.

Hontiveros filed a motion for reconsideration while Lozada, who was not among the original complainants, filed a motion for reconsideration and intervention, against Arroyo for his alleged involvement in the botched project with China's ZTE Corporation.

The Office of the Ombudsman last week dismissed the bribery and graft case filed by Hontiveros and other complainants against the First Gentleman, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and several other DoTC and ZTE officials.

But the Ombudsman recommended the filing of formal charges against former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and former Socioeconomic Planning secretary and current Social Security Systems chairman Romulo Neri.

Lozada, who stood as witness in the Senate hearing on the scandal, said that Abalos offered Neri a bribe to approve the contract.