Sent to prison, NBN-ZTE deal whistleblower has no regrets

Rodolfo Lozada Jr.

Whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr., IT expert and former president and CEO of the state-owned Philippine Forest Corp. (PFC), has no regrets.

The star witness in the inquiry into the controversial national broadband network (NBN) agreement between the Arroyo administration and China’s ZTE Corp. in 2007 said he was not sorry for “siding with the truth” even as the Supreme Court affirmed his and his brother Orlando’s graft conviction for a land deal involving the PFC.

“My enemies made good with their threats that they will make me regret telling the truth,” Lozada said in a statement addressed to his family and friends and informing them “with sadness” that the high court had denied his appeal.

“Yes, they succeeded in sending me to prison. But they will not succeed in making me regret my decision to side with the truth and the people. Hindi ko pinagsisisihan ang ginawa kong pagpanig sa katotohanan,” he said.

He asked his family and friends to “accompany me with your prayers,” and thanked them for their support.

It was Lozada who blew the whistle on the supposed cost-padding and bribery involved in the NBN-ZTE deal, which was to have resulted in a telecommunications network linking government offices nationwide.

His testimony at a Senate inquiry in 2008, in which he tagged then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her husband as the “masterminds behind the NBN-ZTE crime,” led to the cancellation of the deal.

He also testified that then Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. stood to gain a huge commission from the deal.

Four years after his testimony, the Ombudsman filed graft charges against Lozada and his brother.

10 years max

In a ruling dated July 28, 2021, but made public only recently on its website, the Supreme Court denied the Lozada brothers’ petition for review of the Sandiganbayan decision finding them guilty of graft and sentencing them to six to 10 years imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from public office.

In August 2016, the Sandiganbayan’s Fourth Division found Lozada guilty of one count of graft for awarding the lease contract of 6.599 hectares of public land under the PFC’s Lupang Hinirang Program to his brother Orlando without undergoing the regular application process. Orlando was likewise found guilty of graft.

The Lupang Hinirang Program grants leasehold rights over idle public lands to qualified applicants.

The antigraft court said Lozada awarded the land to Orlando, a consultant at the PFC, despite the latter’s not going through the usual application process of prequalification, auction and award.

It said that while PFC personnel did not have to go through the process, Orlando could not be considered an employee of the state corporation.

It also said Lozada acted in evident bad faith and manifest partiality when he allowed his brother to lease the land for P13,198 despite not being qualified.

‘Unmeritorious’

The brothers had claimed that the Sandiganbayan violated their rights to a fair trial and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusations against them.

Among other concerns, they also claimed that the court misapplied the concept of unwarranted benefit, manifest partiality, evident bad faith and conspiracy in concluding that they violated Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

But the Supreme Court ruled that the brothers’ petition for review on certiorari was “unmeritorious.”

“We are not persuaded by Rodolfo’s insistence that he did not give unwarranted benefit to Orlando since no lease agreement and tenurial instrument were executed in his favor and that, if at all, the issuance of a notice of award in Orlando’s favor merely gave him a ‘preferential right’ which was merely an inchoate right,” it said.

The high court agreed with the Sandiganbayan that “the petitioners conspired with each other, so that the lease of idle public land would be awarded to Orlando.”

“As president of [the] PFC, Rodolfo was authorized to sign all documents, agreement and contracts relating to the award of leasehold rights. Thus, without Rodolfo’s approval, Orlando would not have been included in the list of bidders and issued a notice of award,” it said.

It added that with the brothers’ actions taken together, “the element of conspiracy is established.”

The high court also said that the brothers’ constitutional right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusations against them was not violated. “[T]he supposed variance between the award of leasehold rights and the notice of award did not materially impair [their] right to prepare for their defense,” it said.

In the same year that Lozada and his brother were convicted of graft, the graft charges against Arroyo for the NBN-ZTE deal were dismissed. Abalos, similarly charged, was likewise acquitted.

Earlier this month, Arroyo was reelected representative of the second district of Pampanga and Abalos was proclaimed mayor of Mandaluyong City, his family’s bailiwick.

Lozada had said that the witness against him, Erwin Santos, was his former program manager at the PFC. He said Arroyo appointed Santos as his replacement, and convinced Santos to testify against him.

He lamented that the case against him came at a time when he was trying to “rebuild” his life after supposedly being harassed by the Arroyo administration. —With a report from Inquirer Research; SOURCE: Inquirer Archives

READ: Ex-whistleblower Jun Lozada: Better for gov’t to fund own internet sites