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A key witness in the aborted national broadband
project on Friday filed charges of kidnapping and attempted murder
before the Department of Justice against government officials
involved in his alleged abduction early this month.
Despite his move, Rodolfo
“Jun” Lozada Jr. insisted, his “utmost faith” in the
judiciary remains untarnished. He said, though, that he cannot
give such trust to “the members” of the executive branch.
Lozada sued Environment Secretary
Jose “Lito” Atienza; Director General Avelino Razon Jr., chief
of the Philippine National Police; Chief Supt. Romeo Hilomen, head
of the Police Security and Protection Office; Senior Supt. Paul
Mascariñas, deputy chief of the protection office; retired Brig.
Gen. Angel Atutubo, airport security chief; retired Senior Police
Officer 4 Rodolfo Valeroso; and several John Does. Valeroso
previously was identified in reports as “Roger.”
Lozada’s lawyers said the
kidnapping charges stemmed from the incident on February 5, when
Lozada was picked up allegedly against his will by government men
from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport upon his arrival from
Hong Kong. Among these men allegedly were Atutubo and Valeroso.
The respondents, particularly
Atienza and Razon, earlier claimed that Lozada had asked for police
protection as he was fearing for his life.
Atienza said, “We welcome this
legal action. Now, we will be able to prove the scripted role that
he [Lozada] plays in the build-up of the scenario [that Lozada had
been abducted] ... definitely, we welcome it [legal action] because
it will give us the opportunity to prove his self-glorified
fairytale wrong.”
He added that the suit filed by
Lozada “will give us all now who responded to his call for help a
chance to ferret out, to come out with, the truth.”
Insisting that Lozada had sought
police protection, Atienza said, “If helping a man in need is
kidnapping, then I don’t know what charity means.”
Lozada used to be a consultant of
Romulo Neri, formerly director general of the National Economic and
Development Authority. Lozada often sat as the representative of
Neri in discussions on the broadband project. He said he quit as
project consultant on January 18, 2007, after being threatened by
resigned Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. of the Commission on
Elections.
Lozada was the president and
chief executive office of the Philippine Forest Corp., PFC or
PhilForest, a government-owned and -controlled corporation and a
subsidiary of the Natural Resources Development Corporation of the
Environment department. The development corporation overseas
agro-reforestation projects and taps idle lands for economic
productivity. Lozada’s immediate superior was Atienza.
Lozada and Neri had snubbed
Friday’s scheduled presentation by the Justice department of the
results of its fact-finding investigation of the alleged abduction.
In a letter to Undersecretary
Ernesto Pineda, Lozada told the Justice department that its inquiry
into the controversial $330-million broadband deal was not allowed
by the Rules of Court.
He also cited the alleged
prejudice of the Pineda panel, with the probe having been conducted
on orders of President Gloria Arroyo for Justice Secretary Raul
Gonzalez to do so. Lozada had also linked President Arroyo’s
husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, to alleged brokering for
bribes in the broadband deal. Mr. Arroyo’s lawyer, Ruy Rondain, in
a statement, said his client flew to Hong Kong on Friday “to seek
acupuncture treatment for his chronic back pain.” Rondain added
that Mr. Arroyo “will return in a few days for the next hearing at
the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the ZTE cases.” ZTE
is ZTE Corp., the Chinese telecommunications giant that won the bid
for the broadband project.
In his letter to Pineda, Lozada
said, “The [Justice department’s] job is to stop corruption, not
whitewash it, by conducting preliminary investigations and filing
charges when appropriate, in accordance with the Rules of Court.
Conducting ‘fact-finding’ on orders of the President to
‘determine personalities’ is not part of the [department’s]
job description.”
He added, “While I have utmost
faith in the judicial system, considering my recent experiences I
cannot say the same for the members of the executive department.”
Pineda scored the no-shows of
Neri and Lozada, saying their testimony at the Justice department
was supposed to be their chance to show Filipinos people that
“corruption is not good.” He added that they had posted 10
agents from the National Bureau of Investigation to protect Lozada.
Another lawyer, Ernesto
Francisco, also on Friday described as “bogus” the fact-finding
investigation. He then urged volunteer lawyers to charge and
prosecute Gonzalez for authorizing the probe.
Francisco said the Justice
secretary and his subordinates face criminal and administrative
charges for allegedly violating Article 208 of the Revised Penal
Code.
The Pineda panel, he said,
violated Section 3 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act
(Republic Act 3019) and the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards
for Public Officials (Republic Act 6713).
--Jomar Canlas, Ira Karen Apanay and James Konstantin Galvez
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