MANILA, Philippines--Senate star witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr. told the Court of Appeals Tuesday that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's former Chief of Staff Michael Defensor had asked him to cooperate with the government and deny any anomaly in the National Broadband Network (NBN) project with China because the President was hurting.

Lozada also said the lawyer initially provided to him, Antonio Bautista, had tried to coax him to deny before the Senate that he was kidnapped upon his return from Hong Kong and that he had met with other officials or personalities regarding the NBN deal, and to say that his knowledge of the deal was limited to technical matters.

He implored the court to provide him and his family the protection necessary for their lives to return to normal following his explosive testimony about the scuttled NBN contract with China's ZTE Corp.

"Away from the glare of the media and without court protection, I would really be lost and could not go on with my life," he told the justices.

On the phone with the Inquirer, Defensor reiterated his denial of Lozada's charges:

"No way. I hope he will stop peddling his lies. But it's also good that this is before the courts now, so that I can also take my own legal action."

Defensor vehemently denied telling Lozada that Ms Arroyo was hurting over the controversy, and offering him money in exchange for his silence.

He challenged Lozada to undergo a lie detector test with him.

"I have been asking him for months now for the two of us to take a lie detector test. Now that the issue has simmered down, I reiterate my challenge for him to take a lie detector test before the public," Defensor said.

Defensor added that Lozada was also committing perjury because during the Senate inquiry into the NBN-ZTE deal, the latter had purportedly agreed with his (Defensor's) version of their meeting at La Salle Green Hills.

Going abroad
Lozada later told reporters that he was considering going abroad if he fails to get protection from the government forces he has accused of threatening him.

He said leaving the Philippines was a last option to provide his family with a normal life.

Continuing his testimony in the petition for a writ of amparo filed on his behalf, Lozada said Defensor told him the NBN-ZTE issue had to be closed because it was hurting Ms Arroyo.

"Pare, nasasaktan na si ma'am, kelangan tapusin na natin 'to (Buddy, ma'am is being hurt, we need to end this now)," he quoted Defensor as saying.

He said "ma'am" referred to the President.

Lozada said Defensor also told him over the phone to proceed with the plan for him to absolve the government of any wrongdoing against him or in the NBN-ZTE deal because the payment to him had already been approved:

"Mike told me nagkausap na sila nina ma'am, okay na daw yung para sa akin (Mike told me he and ma'am had talked, and I'll be taken care of)."

He later explained that he understood the statement to mean that he would be paid, but he said no amount was given nor was any favor to him specified.

Lozada's conversations with Defensor supposedly took place shortly before the witness held a pre-dawn press conference on Feb. 7 at La Salle Green Hills.

Demolition job
At that press conference, Lozada revealed, among other things, that then National Economic and Development Authority chief Romulo Neri had asked him to "moderate the greed" of the officials seeking commissions from the $329-million NBN-ZTE deal.

According to Lozada, he told Defensor that he found it difficult to comply with what was being asked of him.

He said it was then that Defensor said they could easily call broadcaster Mike Enriquez to arrange his press conference.

Defensor also allegedly added: "Kung kokontra ka na, sabihin mo kasi tatrabahuhin ka lang namin sa media (If you will oppose us, just tell me because we will manipulate the issue in the media)."

He said he took the statement to mean that a demolition job would be launched against him.

Lozada said Defensor also gave him money for "pamalengke" (groceries), which he said he initially refused but later took on Defensor's insistence.

He said he returned the money upon seeing that it amounted to P50,000.

He also narrated how Undersecretary Manuel Gaite gave his brother P500,000 for his expenses in Hong Kong.

All of the money was returned, he said.

Lozada said that when Defensor left, there did not appear to be bad blood between them.

He added that it was Defensor, upon Neri's advice, who recommended him to head Philippine Forest Corp.

Lozada said that after meeting with Defensor, he met with Bautista, also at La Salle Green Hills, for a purported coaching session.

He said the meeting was not too productive because Bautista apparently found him to be stubborn.

He said he told Bautista that he was having a hard time, to which the lawyer said he might find it difficult to testify before the Senate, and that a press conference would be the better route.

'Refuge from the lies'
Lozada said that after the coaching session, he met with Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, who visited him to ask how he was.

He said he told the bishop that he could not take what was happening to him anymore.

"I told him I need refuge, refuge from the lies. I told him, 'Help me go to the light,'" Lozada said.

He said the priests and nuns guarding him and his family at La Salle Green Hills then held a meeting and suggested that he hold his own press conference and then go to the Senate.

He said he agreed with their suggestion.

The Association of Major Religious Superiors then arranged the press conference, he said.

'Anguish moment'
Justice Regalado Maambong asked Lozada why he accepted the money when he could have refused it.

Lozada said he was confused then and wanted to be alone, and that the incident was an "anguish moment."

When asked why by his lawyer Rex Fernandez, Lozada replied: "Because I really do not think I can lie outright to the public. At the same time, if I tell the truth, my life will be put in grave danger."

Maambong also wondered if Lozada believed the police would really harm him, given the police's statement that they were out to protect him.

Lozada said he believed so.

But Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tang said Lozada's testimony seemed unbelievable.

Tang said an important point in Lozada's testimony was his admission that he had received the money.

She said Lozada's return of the money seemed like an "afterthought."

She also pointed out that Lozada had kept meeting with Bautista, and all of a sudden changed tack.