MANILA, Philippines -- It was the police that fetched Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., a crucial witness in the ZTE broadband deal whom his siblings and wife had claimed was seized by airport officials upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.

The Philippine National Police (PNP) Wednesday said that it fetched the president and CEO of state-owned Philippine Forest Corp. upon the request of one of his siblings.

But, curiously, the PNP said it did not know Lozada’s whereabouts. “We don’t know where he is, it was not divulged ... but my men are protecting him,” said Chief Supt. Romeo Hilomen, chief of the Police Security and Protection Office (PSPO).

Hilomen said he designated four policemen to pick up Lozada and those who are currently guarding him.

Lozada, who arrived on Cathay Pacific flight CX-919 at 4:40 p.m. on Tuesday, “disappeared” at the NAIA Terminal 1 before he could be picked up by the Senate sergeant at arms.

The Senate has issued an arrest warrant against Lozada and Romulo Neri, former director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), after they failed to appear at its hearings on the now scrapped ZTE deal.

Lozada returned to Manila from a purported trip to London apparently ready to tell the Senate what he knew about the scrapped $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal awarded to China’s ZTE Corp.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, and former Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. have been linked to the allegedly tainted deal. Both denied lobbying for ZTE.

No obstruction of justice

PNP Director General Avelino Razon said that based on an earlier Supreme Court decision, an arrest warrant issued by the Senate “will only be good within Senate grounds.

“There is no obstruction of justice here. As law enforcer we should enforce the law,” Razon said.

He said the PNP was ready to bring Lozada to the Senate if he wants it. “If the Senate needs him, we can present him to the Senate,” Razon said. “It depends on him of course. We can’t force him.”

But Razon said it was not the right time to allow Lozada to come out. “Not right now. He still fears for his safety. Maybe, it’s safer for him not to come out yet until we determine it would be safe to present him … Our assessment is that there is a threat against him.”

On the day that Lozada was to arrive in the country, a sibling of his requested police protection, citing threats to his life, Razon said.

Request in writing

The request was later put into writing. Usually, individuals who ask for police protection make a written request to Razon, who has the power to approve or reject it.

“His (Lozada’s) sibling asked for protection, saying Jun Lozada was afraid for his safety. He is afraid that when he arrives, he would be arrested. So he requested the PSPO to give him security. When he arrived, this was formalized into a letter,” Razon told reporters.

He said that Lozada was not “picked up” and that Lozada was “accompanied” out of the airport.

Hilomen, whose unit is in charge of providing security to VIPs, confirmed it was Lozada’s sister Carmen who asked for police protection for his brother on the day of his arrival.

In due time

In Malacañang, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Lozada would surface in due time.

Ermita said Lozada was not abducted but was placed under police protection upon the request of the latter’s brother.

Lozada had since spoken to his wife and family, prompting Ermita to say that “the family cannot claim that Lozada was kidnapped because they knew all along that he was under the custody of police officials.”

On Tuesday, Lozada’s wife repeatedly appealed to authorities to let him see his family.

Ermita said he told Razon that in “the first opportune time” he should release a copy of the letter of Lozada’s brother so as “to put the matter to rest.”

Palace not worried

Ermita said Malacañang had not threatened Lozada. “I don’t see how Malacañang will threaten anybody,” he told reporters.

Asked whether the Palace would stop Lozada from testifying, Ermita said: “We will not. It’s his call.”

At one point, he told reporters: “What’s there to be worried about?”

Hilomen also said that Lozada was “free to go where he wants to go. Our people are just securing him.”

Hilomen said the PSPO was assessing the threats to Lozada’s life. “(The threats) have to be validated. That is why we immediately gave the police assistance because something might happen … (we will) protect him from any bodily harm.”

Razon told reporters that it was Lozada who said where he wanted to be brought upon his arrival. “It is not our safe house,” he said, adding that he did not know if Lozada was with any of his relatives.

No kidnapping

The PNP chief denied the claim of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee investigating the ZTE deal, that Lozada was kidnapped by government authorities.

“This is not a kidnapping because there was a request. A kidnapping occurs when a person is taken against his will. But in this case, this was out of his own volition, out of his own free will,” he said.

Razon said “it’s up to [the Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms (OSSA)] to arrest him but we will be protecting him.”

Not in Crame

Razon said Lozada’s guards would not cross swords with the OSSA.

An OSSA contingent led by Jaime Dimacali went to Camp Crame Wednesday afternoon in a bid to take custody of Lozada.

But Dimacali came up empty-handed as Lozada was not at the PNP headquarters. Dimacali met with Hilomen.

“(Officials of the PNP) emphasized that he is not in their custody. His (Hilomen) people are providing security. He (Lozada) is not here in Crame, even if we scoured the place. They said if Lozada is called by the Senate, they can bring him,” Dimacali told reporters.

Commission on Human Rights

The Commission of Human Rights said it would visit Lozada in Camp Crame on Thursday. In a media advisory it sent Wednesday night, the CHR said Commissioner Wilhelm Soriano would meet with Lozada at the PSPO Thursday morning.

The CHR said Soriano had “requested access to see and ask Lozada whether he voluntarily submitted himself to be placed in PSPO custody.”

“If not, there is definitely a human rights issue, which Soriano would like to find out himself,” the CHR advisory said.

Proper explanation

Razon said he would investigate why suspicions that Lozada was kidnapped by authorities arose and why some of Lozada’s family members were unaware he had sought police protection.

He said police would make the proper explanation in due time.

“We look into that -- why there was some sort of confusion with the wife and some members of the family as to the whereabouts of Jun Lozada,” Razon said.

In the arms of family members

Both Hilomen and Razon said Lozada was fine.

“He is OK and safe and he is in the arms of some of his family members,” Razon said.

The PNP chief also said that the PNP did not have an SPO4 Roger Valeroso on its roster. Valeroso had allegedly escorted Lozada out of the airport the other day.

Razon said the PNP was ready to answer any charges to be filed against it in relation to the incident. “We will show we did not go against the law,” he said.

President’s guards

Was it just a coincidence or were the President’s men on a mission to pick up someone very special?

Airport sources Wednesday confirmed seeing at least two officers of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) hanging around at the dignitaries lounge of the NAIA Terminal 1 on Tuesday afternoon, just minutes before Lozada disappeared.

As he himself had told his brother Arthur before his phone went out of reach, Lozada was allegedly picked up by airport officials against his will.

“I noticed that one of the PSG officers left around the time the [Cathay Pacific] plane connected to the tube [that led to the arrival gate] and went to the other man, but the other one stayed behind,” said a source, who observed the comings and goings of guests and outsiders at the VIP lounge on Tuesday.

PSG plainclothesmen

The source recalled that the two officers were in plain clothes. Some members of the media waiting for Lozada even recognized the two men as PSG officers, who normally assisted VIPs at the NAIA.

Airport officials, however, said the PSG men had nothing to do with Tuesday’s events and that they were there just to perform their regular duties.

“They were just there probably because they had someone to assist. They had nothing to do with it,” said Angel Atutubo, airport security chief, an official known to be close to the First Family.

“I do not think their presence had any relation to Lozada’s arrival. They were fetching somebody who is arriving through Singapore Airlines,” said Octavio “Bing” Lina, NAIA terminal manager and operations chief.

Mysterious police officer

Both Atutubo, a retired general, and Lina admitted to being present when Lozada was brought out of the terminal but pointed to a police officer, Valeroso, as the one who came forward claiming to have been authorized to take custody of Lozada.

The PSG has a contingent assigned to the airport as a ready security force to assist arrivals or departures of Ms Arroyo, members of the First Family, and other Palace guests. Officers in this detail are given annual access passes to all airport areas, including the highly restricted ramp through which Lozada was said to have been spirited out.

Another source related that the PSG officers had said they were to fetch a passenger from a Singapore Airlines flight coming in that afternoon, as Lina had said. They, however, did not give the name of the passenger and, unlike during normal situations, had no prior coordination with airport authorities, said airport sources.

Yet another source recalled talking to one of the PSG men who said he and his companion were at the airport to assist a passenger, this time one who was leaving.

The Inquirer sources requested not to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the matter and for their security.

No security breach

Finally speaking about Tuesday’s confusion, Lina told the Inquirer that he and Atutubo were there when Valeroso picked up Lozada.

“We were there, me and General Atutubo, but that’s not a problem because we were just monitoring,” he said.

Lina added he was a good distance away from Valeroso and Lozada when the two met at NAIA’s arrival Gate 7, from where the passenger was taken to the departure area, and then down to the ramp.

“There was no breach of security because there was coordination with us and we did not want the flow of passengers to be affected [if Lozada had taken the regular route],” he said.

While the PNP had said there was no such police officer named Roger Valeroso, Atutubo and Lina said they checked the identity of the man who went to the airport claiming to have been deputized to take Lozada.

“I do not have a record but he had an ID that we had verified ... that’s why what I told you is reliable,” said Atutubo.