Lozada knew of anomalies in gov't projects during term as NEDA adviser

MANILA, Philippines -   Whistle-blower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. could not explain why he allowed multimillion-peso anomalies in government projects he handled while acting as “personal technical adviser” to former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief Romulo Neri.

Responding to questions posed by defense lawyers during the hearing at the trial of former elections chief Benjamin Abalos at the Sandiganbayan, Lozada admitted knowing about anomalies in multimillion-peso projects involving the Philippine Postal Service, the SouthRail Project, and the Philippine Forest Corp. (PFC)

Lozada said he headed the projects as a communications and electronics engineer from 2006 to 2008.

When asked by defense lawyer Gabriel Villareal about what he did after learning of the $70-million overprice in the SouthRail Project, Lozada admitted that he did nothing beyond reporting the matter to his “very close friend” Neri.

Lozada was presented as a witness in the graft case against Abalos in the controversial national broadband network (NBN) deal with Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE.

He also admitted that, being a close friend of Neri, he agreed to set aside P14 million in funds of the PFC for disposition by “a friend of Secretary Neri.” 

The allocation was part of a P19-million fund drawn by PFC from NEDA, only P5 million of which was used for PFC projects.

It was revealed during the hearing that Lozada is currently facing charges before the Ombudsman for various anomalies while he was the president of the PFC.

Among these supposed self-dealing transactions were those involving his wife’s agency which benefited from commissions on a life insurance policy by a private firm rather than by the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS); the award by PFC of a 50-hectare reforestation project in Antipolo City to his brother, nieces, nephews and other relatives; and the award by PFC without bidding of a P15-million IT contract to a company owned by his brother and his family.

Lozada also admitted being the proponent of a ZTE-Joey de Venecia partnership to implement the NBN project which would have guaranteed ZTE a $65-million margin, which Lozada claimed was better than what Abalos was supposedly asking as commission for brokering the deal.

De Venecia, son of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., earlier linked Abalos to the NBN-ZTE deal, claiming the former elections chief acted as a broker for the deal.

Lozada also claimed the former elections chief acted as broker for the deal with ZTE and even threatened to kill him.

Abalos denied the allegations and maintained he has done nothing wrong and dismissed all the claims and statements of De Venecia and Lozada as “fabricated.”

When asked by the justices about what appeared to be a proposition to commit graft, Lozada said the $65-million margin was within his “permissible zone of morality.”