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By William B. Depasupil, Reporter
Bishops, a church group and a
senator have thrown their support behind embattled Rodolfo “Jun”
Lozada Jr., a witness to the alleged wheeling and dealing by private
individuals and government officials on the scrapped $330-million
national broadband network project.
The social action arm of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and Solidarity
Philippines, a church group, on Friday assured Lozada of their full
support till the end of his fight against the alleged brokers of the
national broadband project.
“We will do everything we can
to help him,” Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman
of the National Secretariat for Social Action of the bishops’
group, said.
The church, Pabillo added, will
provide Lozada the help he needs within its means, particularly
moral and spiritual support.
The only bishop who accompanied
Lozada from De La Salle Greenhills in San Juan City to the Senate
building in Pasay City, he said he is thankful for Lozada’s trust
and confidence in the people serving the church.
“He [Lozada] said as a
Catholic, he opted to be with the church who would listen and care
for him,” Pabillo said.
He added that the Senate witness
is involved in a situation where seeking the truth about alleged
irregularities in the government is put to test.
It is only proper, Pabillo said,
that the church must come to help Lozada.
“It’s also our duty to guide
and give protection to people who need help,” he added.
Solidarity Philippines said they
appreciate Lozada’s courage in revealing what he knows about the
alleged anomalies in the aborted national broadband project.
“His testimony further confirms
that Abalos earned a big sum of his retirement package from the
multimillion anomalous [broadband] deal,” the group said in a
statement.
It accused the Arroyo
administration of trying to keep Lozada silent and prevent him from
telling the public what he knows about the canceled project.
“While those in power have not
gone to confess their sins against the Filipino people, we laud the
courage of Lozada to confess what he knows despite the serious death
threats against him,” the statement read.
Solidarity Philippines said it
joins the people in praying that Lozada will not compromise the
whole truth.
“We also pray for strength and
safety of his family in these challenging times,” it added.
Earlier, Jaro Archbishop Angel
Lagdameo, the president of the bishops’ group also urged Lozada to
tell “everything” he knows about the broadband scandal.
“He [Lozada] must tell the
truth and nothing but the truth,” Lagdameo said. He added that
Lozada’s testimony could help the search for the truth behind
issues hounding the Arroyo administration.
Outspoken Lingayen-Dagupan
Archbishop Oscar Cruz said Lozada’s revelations only prove that
the government is “morally bankrupt.”
It is high time, Cruz added, for
a moral revolution as called for by former House Speaker Jose de
Venecia Jr.
In the Senate, Francis Pangilinan
urged De La Salle brothers, religious groups and people’s
organizations now aiding Lozada to help establish a “Legal Defense
and Protection Fund” for the key witness.
The senator, in a statement, said
his proposal had been prompted by possible “various forms of
further intimidation to be thrown at [Lozada], such as the filling
of various cases against him. We know how financially draining this
is, and the fund aims to ease this difficulty one way or another.”
De La Salle Greenhills in San
Juan City gave Lozada sanctuary after he was released by his
“abductors.”
Lozada’s case, Pangilinan said,
is “a danger sign to all of us, it tells us that this country has
reached the situation where just about anyone can be kidnapped and
terrorized in broad daylight, right before the eyes of the public
and the media!” He added that the case “tells us that the truth
in this country has become so costly that powerful forces are
willing to commit illegal acts to stifle it.”
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