WHAT WENT BEFORE

ON AUG. 15, 2012, the Office of the Ombudsman charged Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada with two graft cases for violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, or Republic Act No. 3019, while he was president and chief executive officer of the state-owned Philippine Forest Corp. (Philforest) in 2007 and 2008.

In the first of the two cases, the Ombudsman said Lozada had unlawfully awarded the lease contract of a piece of land under Philforest’s Lupang Hinirang Program to Transforma Quinta, a private corporation in which he and his wife, Ma. Violeta, had been appointed to act for and in its behalf in certain financial transactions.

In the second case, Lozada, with his brother, Jose Orlando, was accused of conspiring to award the leasehold rights over 6.599 hectares of public land under the Lupang Hinirang Program on Dec. 18, 2007.

The Commission on Audit (COA), in its 2011 report, said Philforest should send demand letters to the Lozada brothers, who were among 13 former Philforest officials who failed to settle their cash advances totaling P1.15 million before they left the service. Lozada’s cash advances reached P495,963 and Jose Orlando’s, P80,000, it said.

Lozada was a crucial witness whose testimony on cost-padding and bribery led to the cancellation of the $329-million National Broadband Network deal of the Arroyo administration with a Chinese telecommunications company, ZTE Corp., in 2008. Inquirer Research

Source: Inquirer Archives