Lozada elated by filing of graft charges in NBN-ZTE controversy

MANILA, Philippines—Witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr. is heartened that the alleged  masterminds  behind the scuttled $329-million deal to electronically wire the bureaucracy in 2007 have  finally been haled to court for trial, and is ready to testify against them.

The indictment of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo on graft charges at the Sandiganbayan might just be the start of a judicial process to put closure to the NBN-ZTE scandal, Lozada said.

While it may be a long drawn-out trial, Lozada said he was open to taking the witness stand against the Arroyos on these charges, if necessary, as he is now doing in cases against other key players in the scuttled deal between the government and China’s ZTE Corp.

“What I’m feeling now is one of relief, and one of encouragement. There’s some light, and hope that whatever we sacrificed for will not be for nothing,” he said in a telephone interview. “Now there’s a development in the case.”

While the Office of the Ombudsman filed graft charges but dismissed plunder charges against the Arroyos, Lozada said he was heartened by the fact that the Pampanga lawmaker and her husband have finally been indicted, after getting away under the previous Ombudsman.

“We’re now talking of the masterminds, and that is where my encouragement is coming from. The buck stops with the masterminds. Hopefully, this will be brought to its rightful conclusion: that justice is served,” he said.

The Ombudsman filed two counts of graft charges and one count of violation of the code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials against Arroyo, now a member of the House of Representatives.

It said she had fast-tracked and approved the signing of the deal despite knowing the irregularities attending it, and played golf and had lunch with ZTE officials when their proposal was being evaluated by the Philippine government.

The Ombudsman  said that the former President’s round of golf and lunch with the Chinese proponents violated the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards which prohibits officials from accepting or soliciting gifts in the course of their official duties.

The project, designed to connect government offices nationwide through landline, cellular and Internet services, had been tainted by charges of overprice and bribery.

The contract was signed by then Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and ZTE vice president Yu Yong on April 21 in Boao, China, in ceremonies witnessed by Arroyo. The contract was eventually rescinded at the height of the scandal.

Lozada, who was privy to the deal while serving as technical personal adviser to then Socio-economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri and pointed to the Arroyos as the masterminds behind the “NBN-ZTE crime” in Senate inquiries, said he was willing to testify in the trial.

“Our determination to work together with the authorities to bring these people to account has never wavered. We’ve made some sacrifices for the truth. We will press on,” he said. “I want to have a closure to this event, too.”

He has taken the witness stand in the graft case against former Commission on Elections chair Benjamin Abalos Jr., whom he had accused of getting fat kickbacks from the deal he facilitated, now pending before the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division.

When he decided to testify on the purportedly overpriced deal  at a Senate inquiry in 2008, Lozada found allies in religious sisters and brothers.

It was nuns from the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines and La Salle brothers who secured Lozada when he first faced the press on the broadband deal, after he was abducted by government men at the airport following his return from a trip to Hong Kong. The government had tried to dissuade him from testifying.

Throughout his testimony, Lozada and his family were sheltered at the La Salle Greenhills brothers’ house.

Lozada said the indictment of the Arroyos should prod his former boss, Neri, to tell everything he knows about the Arroyos’ involvement in the deal.

“I hope and pray that Neri, now that there’s no more executive privilege, can tell his conversation with the President on that fateful evening,” he said, referring to the conversation where Arroyo purportedly directed Neri to approve the deal.

Charged with Arroyo were her husband, former Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos, and  Mendoza.

The charges arose from a complaint filed by Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño, Liza Maza of Makabayan and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Chair Carol Araullo.

The Office of the Ombudsman under Merceditas Gutierrez dismissed previous complaints against the Arroyos over the controversial deal.

Lozada said he would not question the Ombudsman’s dismissal of the plunder charges on the ground that the witnesses’ testimonies in the Senate failed to prove that money changed hands. He acknowledged that it was difficult to produce proofs of this.

He said, however, he hoped that somebody would file fresh plunder charges against the Arroyos so long as the principle of double jeopardy is not violated.

“Hopefully, the other witnesses will start coming out and the right witnesses will be called now. If there will be a thorough examination and cross-examination of the witnesses, the truth will come out that money indeed changed hands,” he said.

And this is where the urgency of legislating the proposed Whistle-blowers Act and the proposed Freedom of Information Act comes in, he said.

“It’s precisely to provide tools for people like us in the bureaucracy who know something about this, and who know where the paper trail is. If we’re going to fight evil, we have to be given tools,” he said.

While the trial is ongoing, Lozada proposed that the government find ways to stop the accused from enjoying their gains from the graft-ridden deal  and using these to fend off allegations against them.

“What is the legal remedy to stop these people from continuing to enjoy all the comforts of the poisoned fruit they have amassed? When the hearing is ongoing, they’ll still be enjoying all the comforts of the poisoned fruit,” he said. “I doubt if justice will be served if we allow this situation to persist. Our pursuit of justice will be hampered.”