Lozada to testify Arroyos NBN-ZTE ‘masterminds’
Witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr. is heartened that the “masterminds” of the overpriced $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s ZTE Corp. have been brought to court for trial and said he is ready to testify against them.
Lozada said the indictment of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and husband Jose Miguel Arroyo on graft charges in the Sandiganbayan was just the start of a judicial process to put a closure to the NBN-ZTE scandal.
Lozada, who was privy to the deal while serving as technical personal adviser to then Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, tagged the Arroyos at Senate inquiries as the masterminds of the “NBN-ZTE crime.” He said he was willing to testify on the case.
“Our determination to work together with the authorities to bring these people to account has never wavered. We’ve made some sacrifices for truth. We will press on,” he said. “I want to have a closure to this event, too.”
Lozada said the indictment of the Arroyos should prod his former boss, Neri, to tell everything he knew about the Arroyos’ direct role in the deal.
“I hope and pray that Neri, now that there’s no more executive privilege, can reveal his conversation with the President on that fateful evening,” he said, referring to the conversation in which Arroyo purportedly directed Neri to endorse the deal.
While it may be drawn-out, Lozada is open to taking the witness stand against the Arroyos on these charges, if necessary, as he’s doing now on cases against other key players in the scuttled deal between the Philippine government and ZTE Corp.
“What I’m feeling now is one of relief, and one of encouragement. There’s some light, and hope that whatever we sacrificed for will not be for nothing,” he said in a phone interview. “Now there’s a development in the case.”
While the Office of the Ombudsman filed graft charges but dismissed plunder charges against the Arroyos, Lozada said he was heartened by the fact that the former President and her husband had finally been indicted, after getting away under the previous Ombudsman.
The buck stops here
“We’re now talking of the masterminds, and that is where my encouragement is coming from. The buck stops with the masterminds. Hopefully, this will be brought to its rightful conclusion: that justice is served,” he said.
The Ombudsman on Wednesday filed two counts of graft charges and one count of violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials against Arroyo, now a member of the House of Representatives.
It said she had fast-tracked and approved the signing of the deal despite knowing the irregularities attending it, and had played golf and had lunch with ZTE officials when their proposal was being evaluated by the Philippine government.
The Ombudsman further said that her round of golf and lunch with the Chinese proponents violated the code of conduct and ethical standards which prohibits officials from accepting or soliciting gifts in the course of their official duties.
The project, designed to connect government offices nationwide through landline, cellular and Internet services, had been tainted by charges of overprice and bribery.
The contract was signed by then Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and ZTE vice president Yu Yong on April 21, 2007, in Boao, China, in ceremonies witnessed by Arroyo herself. It was eventually canceled amid allegations of overpricing.
Fat kickbacks
Lozada has taken the witness stand on the graft case against former Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Jr., whom he had accused of getting fat kickbacks from the deal he facilitated, now pending in the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division.
When he decided to testify on the purportedly overpriced deal at a Senate inquiry in 2008, Lozada found allies in religious sisters and brothers.
It was nuns from the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines and La Salle Brothers who secured Lozada when he first faced the press at a dawn conference about the broadband deal, following his abduction by government men after he got off a plane from Hong Kong. The government had tried to dissuade him from testifying.
La Salle Brothers’ house
Throughout his testimony, Lozada and his family were sheltered at the La Salle Greenhills brothers’ house.
Lozada, however, hoped that the case would not go the way of martial law cases filed by rights victims which he said were taking too long to be resolved, and if they were resolved, some favored the accused.
Abalos, Mendoza
Charged with Arroyo were her husband, Abalos and Mendoza. The charges arose from the complaint filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, Liza Maza of Makabayan and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan chair Carol Araullo.
The Office of the Ombudsman under Merceditas Gutierrez dismissed previous complaints against the Arroyos over the controversial deal.
Lozada said he would not question the Ombudsman’s dismissal of the plunder charges on the ground that the witnesses’ testimonies in the Senate had failed to prove that money changed hands. He acknowledged that it was difficult to produce proof of this.
He, however, hoped that somebody would file fresh plunder charges against the Arroyos so long as the principle of double jeopardy was not violated.
Lawmakers said the filing of charges against Arroyo and his allies would strengthen the plunder case against her.
“Yes, I am happy with the graft charge the Ombudsman filed against GMA et al. I would choose a graft case that has enough evidence to convict beyond reasonable doubt than a plunder case in which evidence is not enough to convict,” said Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III.
Wary of legal moves
Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano said that while Arroyo could post bail for the NBN-ZTE case, she must remain at Veterans Memorial Medical Center and barred from getting out. “Arroyo is still facing electoral sabotage charges, a nonbailable offense. We must be wary and vigilant of the Arroyo camp’s legal moves,” said Mariano.
Secretary Ronald Llamas, President Aquino’s adviser on political affairs, said there were other plunder cases pending in the Department of Justice and in the Office of the Ombudsman.
He said graft was easier to prove than plunder. “Graft is more straightforward. In plunder, there should be a series of transactions. There should be a minimum of P50 million involved,” Llamas said. With reports from Gil Cabacungan Jr. and Norman Bordadora
