Lozada: NBN has broken my family
Wife needs counseling, son lost school honors
By Margaux Ortiz
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:02:00 03/17/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Senate star witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. broke down during Palm Sunday Mass at Miriam College in Quezon City Sunday, saying the sufferings of his family since he blew the whistle on corruption in the National Broadband Network deal was a heavy cross he now had to bear.
“Let me tell you about my life now. I am so miserable,” Lozada said in a speech after the Mass, breaking into tears the way he did when he finally revealed his take on corruption surrounding the $329-million NBN deal with ZTE Corp. of China.
Lozada said his son, who graduated from grade school at La Salle Green Hills in Mandaluyong City on Saturday, failed to maintain his academic honors because of what their family has been going through the past month.
“I felt so bad because he worked so hard for it,” the electronics expert said, his voice breaking.
Lozada said his other son was not allowed by the parent of a classmate to join an annual yearend get-together.
His wife, he said, needed counseling.
“I could have easily felt hatred toward the people who are doing this to me, but I chose not to,” the NBN-ZTE key witness said.
“If that is not humility, I don’t know what is,” Lozada addressed Father Albert Alejo, who in his homily reminded the whistle-blower to stay humble amid his growing popularity.
Lozada said that he had no idea what to do or what to anticipate from his detractors.
“My body is being broken because I lost my job. They also destroyed my spirit; only my faith remains intact,” he said.
Lozada is scheduled to travel to Cebu City on Monday, where he is facing yet another obstacle.
According to Sr. Estrella Castalone, executive secretary of the Association of Major Religious Superiors (AMRSP), the priest who was supposed to officiate the Mass for Truth in Cebu has backed out.
The AMRSP is spearheading the drive to build a “Sanctuary Fund” to help whistle-blowers like Lozada weather the persecution that could come with exposing corruption in the government.
“The priest has received orders not to celebrate the Mass, so we had to resort to an interfaith prayer,” Castalone said in an interview with reporters.
“We are not angry, but we are sad with this development,” Castalone said.
The bishop of Lucena, Emilio Marquez, has also made it known that he does not agree with the activist stance of the AMRSP and the Metro Manila bishops.
Marquez, who had invited President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to Pagbilao town in Quezon province on Saturday, stressed that the Church had not called for the resignation of the President. With Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon
|
