LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – Senate star witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr. was back on Tuesday to the place where he was brought after his alleged abduction at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

But this time he was warmly welcomed by around 1,000 high school and university students, teachers of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, and members of people’s organizations in the region.

Lozada was invited as guest speaker by members of the student council and anti-Arroyo groups such as UPLB Fight, Youth Act Now-Southern Tagalog and Stop Na!

The forum pushed through despite attempts of the school administration to stop the activity, Charisse Bernadine Bañez, Youth Act Now-ST spokesperson and USC-UPLB vice chair, told the Inquirer.

Consequences

Bañez said the chancellor of UPLB told them they should be ready to face the consequences if they continued the forum.

The UPLB administration earlier said it would only allow the forum to take place if a pro-Arroyo guest would also speak.

In a statement, UPLB Chancellor Luis Rey Velasco said Lozada was “very much welcome and free to speak in the campus.”

He said the perception of banning Lozada sprang from his proposal to also invite speakers to present the pro-Arroyo side of the NBN-ZTE issue.

In the forum, Lozada recalled his thoughts while he was being driven to Los Baños when he was abducted.

“Alam n’yo naman ang balak sa akin ng mga ‘yun. Balak na gawing pataba ako sa Los Baños (You know what their plans for me were, for me to be fertilizer),” he said, making the audience laugh.

He said that if he was killed he had just one wish: “If I would be killed, I wish somebody could find my body.”

Silence preferred

Lozada said that after the authorities failed to silence him, he was now being hindered from speaking the truth.

“You already know what happened to me in Cebu. Our scheduled Mass was canceled because no priest would like to celebrate Mass with me,” he said. “Kagabi, sabi ko kay sister, ‘Sister, buhay pa ako pakiramdam ko para na akong katawan ni Rizal nu’ng binaril siya. Walang Katolikong sementeryo ang tumanggap sa kanya’ (Last night, I told sister ‘Sister, I am still alive yet I feel like Rizal’s body after his execution. No Catholic cemetery would accept his body’),” he said.

Support messages from various schools in the region led by Youth Act Now-ST were then handed to Lozada.

Bañez said the messages were collected in schools last week as a way for students, who may not be able to attend the forum because of exams, to express their support for Lozada and the campaign for truth and justice.

Mailboxes

Mailboxes for truth were put up through the student councils and publications of at least 13 schools in Calabarzon.

After the forum, Lozada marched with the students to the UP Oblation to light candles which, according to student organizers, symbolized their campaign for truth.

Bani Cambronero, Stop Na! spokesperson said they highly regarded Lozada’s quest to disseminate the truth on the NBN-ZTE scandal.

“We will be organizing more activities such as this forum with Lozada in various provinces so that more people in the region will be able to personally hear Lozada’s views,” he said, adding that broad provincial-level multisectoral alliances, which include Church groups, are also gaining ground.