Court orders Lozada's arrest

MANILA, Philippines - An arrest warrant was issued yesterday by the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court (MTC) against Rodolfo Lozada Jr., one of the Senate’s primary witnesses in the government’s controversial national broadband network (NBN) contract with China’s ZTE Corp.

MTC Judge Jorge Emmanuel Lorredo ordered the arrest of Lozada after granting the appeal of Michael Defensor.

Defensor, President Arroyo’s former chief of staff who also held several other positions in government, filed the complaint against Lozada, alleging that the former government consultant lied in his testimony before the Court of Appeals in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

Lozada allegedly stated that Defensor tried to convince him to retract his claims that he was abducted to keep him from testifying in the Senate on the NBN deal.

Officials had said the snatch was a move to protect Lozada from threats. He was released hours after he was supposedly kidnapped.

Lozada alleged he was offered P50,000 by Defensor to retract his statement that he was snatched at the airport upon arrival from abroad, as well as to deny that he knew the details surrounding the NBN-ZTE deal. Defensor denied the allegations.

Defensor filed the complaint against Lozada on July 5, 2008 but his complaint was dismissed by judge Lorredo for lack of probable cause.

Defensor then appealed the case before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC), and judge Cicero Jurado reversed the ruling and ordered the MTC’s Lorredo to issue the warrant.

The RTC had issued a resolution dated March 19 upholding the perjury charge by Defensor on grounds of grave error on the part of the lower court judge.

Lorredo issued a warrant of arrest yesterday morning.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim earlier filed a petition before the MTC seeking custody of Lozada but it was denied by the court.

In his six-page complaint, Defensor denied allegations that he paid Lozada to retract.

Defensor said that on Feb. 8, 2008, he appeared before the Senate to explain his participation in the alleged kidnapping of Lozada.

He said he only knew about the alleged kidnapping of Lozada from news reports.

When he found out that Lozada took refuge at the De La Salle Dormitory in Greenhills, Defensor said he immediately went there only to confirm the reports.

Lozada, for his part, remarked that he was pulled back into another “vortex” by his impending arrest.

“What is really painful is that only a month ago, I have already decided to just go back to my profession, put up a practice or business that is in the line of technology. What made it really painful for me is that after so many months of discernment… now I’m again sucked back into the vortex of these storms,” he said.

Lozada, an engineer by profession, lamented that he could not use his talents to help his wife and five children because of the controversies hounding him.

“I have been avoiding trouble as much as I could. If you notice I have been keeping a low profile lately. I was just planning to enter into business but they are bringing trouble upon me,” he said.

Lozada admitted that he was not even sure if he would win against Defensor, but “I intend to make it a little more difficult for them… I have no other option but to fight back…in whatever arena, in whatever platform just to break this silence on their abuses against me.”

Lozada previously worked as a government consultant for the $329-million NBN contract with ZTE Corp.

Lozada had alleged former elections chief Benjamin Abalos acted as a broker for the contract.

He became a key witness in the scandal and went on to implicate First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo during the Senate inquiry over the deal. – With Evelyn Macairan