Lozada sad but will carry on, not to let Cory down
By Margaux Ortiz, Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:06:00 03/27/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Whistle-blower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. on Wednesday said he remained committed to exposing the truth behind the scuttled National Broadband Network (NBN) project despite such setbacks as the Supreme Court decision upholding Romulo Neri’s refusal to further testify on the deal and former President Corazon Aquino’s being sidelined by colon cancer.
“I am saddened but not demoralized,” Lozada told reporters at the San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish in Navotas City, where Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Yñiguez celebrated a “Mass for Truth, Justice and Peace” for him and the urban poor community in the area.
“Of course, I will terribly miss President Aquino, [who] really supported me and urged me to be strong for my family and country,” he said. Nevertheless, he added, he would never let her down by giving up on his mission.
Lozada also said the public support he had been receiving since he testified at the Senate on the purported kickbacks in the NBN deal with China’s ZTE Corp. was beyond his expectations.
“When I first came out to expose the truth about the NBN-ZTE deal, I never expected support from all sectors of society. This is all just a bonus for me,” he said.
Deflecting public attention
Lozada was accorded a warm reception by the urban poor, who applauded enthusiastically and crowded around him when he entered the church.
Addressing them in a speech after the Mass, he said: “The rampant corruption in the administration has a direct effect on the poor.”
He said he had witnessed this firsthand as a government official. (He was CEO and president of the state-run Philippine Forest Corp., which was set up in 2006. He quit the post last Feb. 7, or two days after he was taken by state agents at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport upon his return from Hong Kong.)
Lozada said government projects were meant to provide, not service to the people, but commissions for greedy officials.
“I can understand your gripes, and I am one with you in voicing them out,” he said.
Lozada also claimed that the government, through the media, had been deflecting public attention from his Feb. 5 abduction.
“People just talk about my mistakes, my past, even the clothes I wear, but not about my abduction and whatever happened to the people who orchestrated it,” he said.
Anticorruption alliance
As though to prove that the crusade for truth continues, government employees on Wednesday formed a new alliance to fight corruption.
Called Public Servants for Truth and Justice Now (or PS Truth and Justice), the alliance said it could not insulate itself from the people’s outcry against corruption and other practices that fed on public funds.
“As part of the bureaucracy, we believe that we have to speak up, rise up, against the corruption that besmirches the integrity and sincerity of the majority, especially the toiling rank-and-file employees,” said Mar Aguilar, spokesperson of PS Truth and Justice and president of the Sandiganbayan Employees Association.
In a manifesto, the alliance said: “We also fully support the people’s mounting call for the resignation of government officials proven to have been involved in wrongdoing, even if that includes the President herself.”
PS Truth and Justice also announced a “nationally coordinated action” to be held on Thursday.
Forums and general assemblies for truth and justice will be conducted in various offices nationwide, Aguilar said.
Roll call
Those who attended the alliance’s initial convention in Quezon City were employees and union representatives of the social welfare, labor, environment, agrarian reform and agriculture departments, National Parks Development Committee, National Printing Office, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, National Housing Authority, National Food Authority, Sandiganbayan, Senate, House of Representatives, Makati Regional Trial Court, Quezon City Hall, Caloocan City Hall, Manila City Hall and Mabalacat municipal government.
Reading from the manifesto, Aguilar said: “In the midst of the glaring rapacity at this juncture in society, government employees stand pat on their belief in genuine public service that demands transparency and accountability in all government actions and transactions.
“We can no longer endure a government that breeds mendacity, tolerates greed and promotes dishonesty, graft, kidnapping, killings and everything else that is exactly the opposite of what is right and moral. It is impossible for us not to make a stand, not to choose between what is good and what is evil.
“Being public servants means being biased for the people we promised to serve. We therefore vow to search for truth and fight for justice.”
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