Lozada case another gaffe in PNoy reign

By Al S. Mendoza

SEN. Alan Peter Cayetano is right:  President Aquino should have given Jun Lozada immunity from suit.

He cited as reason the fact that Lozada is a key witness against former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a graft case that the government is pursuing versus GMA.

Before Cayetano spoke his mind, Lozada, the famous accuser, has become the accused himself in a graft case filed at the Sandiganbayan by his former underling.

The underling, Erwin Santos, was tapped by then president GMA to replace Lozada as president of the Philippine Forestry Inc. after GMA had convinced Santos to turn witness against Lozada in a retaliatory move against Jun the whistle-blower.

Ironically, PNoy retained Santos when he became president in 2010.

Twice last week, Lozada said six armed men pretending to be agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) came looking for him in his Pasig City home.

Turns out they were fake NBI agents.

Fortunately for Lozada, he wasn’t home when the twin raids occurred, he said.

Lozada said he had to “escape again” from the clutches of evil men, seeking succor once more from the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP), the same Catholic sect that hid the whistle-blower to safety some years back.

It will be remembered that Lozada was one of the major players in the high-profile expose of the ZTE deal.

It was in 2008 when Lozada came forward to disclose an alleged overpricing in the then GMA administration’s $289-million broadband Internet project involving ZTE, China’s giant telecommunications company.

The alleged scandalous deal involved Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, Gloria’s husband.  Mike was implicated in the overpricing scam by Joey de Venecia III, the son of former House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

Together with Lozada, Joey exposed the project as overpriced that would allow for alleged kickbacks favoring Mike Arroyo and former Comelec chief Ben Abalos, who was tagged as brokering the ZTE deal.

Embarrassed, Ate Glow scrapped the ZTE deal.  But she faces today graft charges at Sandiganbayan together with her husband, Abalos and former Neda chief Romulo Neri, who approved the contract.

Cayetano said Malacanang should protect its witnesses in its fight against corruption instead of keeping quiet when disclosures lead to lawsuits.

In a show of concern that is somewhat moving and piercing to the heart, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima personally extended help to Lozada by dispatching real NBI agents to protect him.

But Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang said, “The Ombudsman was an independent body…there was little the Palace could do to intervene in Lozada’s case.”

“But the problem is, if they [Palace] let this happen, you will have fewer whistle-blowers [in the future],” Cayetano said.

I can only agree.

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