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Even the Court of Appeals is now starting to doubt
the claim of national broadband network scandal star witness Rodolfo
Lozada Jr. that he is under threat from government authorities.
This surfaced during the
continuation on Tuesday of the appellate court’s hearing of the
petition for writ of amparo or petition for protection filed in
Lozada’s behalf by his brother, Arturo.
The government’s lawyer,
Assistant Solicitor General Amparo-Cabotaje Tan, even expressed
belief that Lozada’s allegations are “nothing but
speculations.”
Lozada claimed that military
intelligence men were behind the series of death threats he had
received, and were tapping his telephone lines.
“His claims are without basis.
They are mere speculations,” Tan told reporters.
The appellate court’s 17th
Division, headed by Associate Justice Celia Librea-Leagogo, also
noted that despite his claim of threats and harassment from
government authorities, Lozada failed to file appropriate charges
against the persons he was accusing, among them former Commission on
Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr.
“You can’t really pinpoint
from whom these threats are coming from, yet you have this
conclusion that these government people are the ones sending you
threats. You don’t know if there are some private individuals who
do not agree of your advocacy,” Leagogo pointed out.
During the hearing, Lozada, on
cross-examination by Tan, maintained he was abducted on his arrival
in the country, even as he admitted that he was assured by
Environment Secretary Jose Atienza that the men who fetched him were
government security operatives.
--William B. Depasupil
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