Some Cabinet men plotting move vs Ochoa — Lozada

By: Julliane Love De Jesus - 11 years ago

MANILA, Philippines – Whistle-blower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada on Tuesday claimed that some Cabinet secretaries want to keep President Benigno Aquino away from Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.

Lozada told Radyo Inquirer in an interview that he is being urged by Aquino’s Cabinet members to file charges against Ochoa so they can take action.

“In fact, some of the Cabinet secretaries there (in Malacañang), who knew about what was going on, would even encourage me to file charges against Executive Secretary Ochoa so that they can pry the President away from him (Ochoa),” Lozada said.

Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada. FILE PHOTO

Asked if the President is beholden to the executive secretary, Lozada said: “I don’t know… but according to them they need to pry away the President from Mr. Ochoa.”

But Lozada did not disclose the name of the secretaries as well as the charges they want him to file against the highest ranking Cabinet member.

“For so many years, they felt they were the gods. But my message (to Ochoa) will only be: God never sleeps,” he said.

Despite being dragged into the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam, Ochoa will still keep his job in Malacañang, Lozada said.

Lozada said Ochoa still enjoys Aquino’s confidence despite the controversies hounding the executive secretary.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer earlier reported that Lozada has linked Ochoa to the anomalies in the Philippine Forest Corp. (PhilForest), a government agency which was allegedly used as a conduit to funnel PDAF or “pork barrel” of lawmakers to bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

Asked what could be on the President’s mind on seeing the Inquirer headline that implicated Ochoa in the NGO scam, Lozada said Aquino could be thinking of ways “to move [heaven and earth] against me.”

“(Hindi ako takot sa kanila. Takot akong ma-frustrate ang taong bayan.) But I’m not afraid of them. I’m afraid that the Filipino people will get frustrated.” added Lozada.