Wanted Lozada runs to nuns

MANILA, Philippines - An order for his arrest was issued by the Sandiganbayan about two weeks ago, but there seems to be no hurry in serving the warrant on Rodolfo Lozada Jr.

The whistle-blower in the national broadband network (NBN) deal with ZTE assured the public yesterday that he is not in hiding but under the protective custody of nuns in an undisclosed place.

Lozada told The STAR that he has yet to post bail because he is allowing the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) that is looking after him to make the decision.

“We are very much willing to take this on in court,” he said, noting that the AMRSP has written a letter to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Alan Purisima to coordinate the serving of the arrest warrants on Lozada and his brother Jose Orlando.

The Sandiganbayan confirmed yesterday the issuance of an arrest warrant for Lozada, who is facing graft charges for a questionable leasehold rights grant in 2009.

Associate Justice Gregory Ong, chairman of the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division, signed the arrest warrant on Jan. 23, several days after the Office of the Ombudsman junked Lozada’s appeal for a reversal of a decision to indict him.

Lozada’s graft cases stemmed from his grant of leasehold rights grant to his brother and to a private company connected with his wife in 2009 when he was president and chief executive officer of the government-run Philippine Forest Corp. (Philforest).

The Sandiganbayan also ordered the arrest of his brother, who was implicated in the alleged anomaly.

The anti-graft court set bail at P60,000 for the two graft cases against Lozada and P30,000 for one count of graft against his brother.

Officials of the Sandiganbayan said the warrants of arrest against th Lozada brothers were released to the PNP on Jan. 28.

They said the police is directed to take action within 10 days from receipt of the arrest warrants.

However, Chief Superintendent Federico Castro, deputy chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, said they still have no copy of the arrest warrant against Lozada.

He clarified that usually, the issuing courts furnish the PNP with copies of the arrest orders.

Lozada explained that he is just trying to be cautious, considering that suspicious characters went to his house after the Sandiganbayan issued the arrest warrants.

“The only reason why the religious (group) took action to take the family back into custody was primarily because of fear for our physical safety,” he said.

“In this kind of situation, you are better off erring on being careful than erring on being careless,” Lozada said, noting that in the Philippines, people get shot while supposedly being served warrants.

As to the graft charges against him and his brother, he said this was one of the cases that the former administration filed against him.

He expressed dismay that the only so-called witness against him in the case, Erwin Santos, is now president of Philforest under the Aquino government.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, acting on the findings of graft investigators, found probable cause to charge both respondents in August 2012.

Lozada is one of the key witnesses of the Office of the Ombudsman against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr., former transportation secretary Leandro Mendoza, and former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Romulo Neri in the canceled $329-million NBN project contract that was signed in 2007 by the government of then President Arroyo with the Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

Lozada had appealed the ruling through a motion for reconsideration but underwent conditional arraignment for purposes of his travel abroad in October 2012.

Last month, the anti-graft court junked his request for a reversal of the Ombudsman’s decision, stating that his pleading “does not present any newly discovered evidence or material arguments of sufficient weight and persuasiveness to warrant consideration of the assailed pronouncements of the Ombudsman.”

Santos, former Philforest program development manager, filed the complaint, claiming that during Lozada’s term, procurements made by the agency did not go through the normal bidding process.

Follow the process

Palace officials believe that the legal process must be followed, and that Lozada’s criminal cases are no exception.

“There is very little that we can do to involve ourselves in that. Certainly, I personally feel bad about what’s happening to Jun but there’s a process that has to be followed,” Presidential Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang told journalists.

He said the Ombudsman reviewed the charges against Lozada and the anti-graft investigators believe there is sufficient basis to file charges against him.

“Whether you’re a friend, a foe or neutral, we all have to abide by that process,” Carandang stressed, noting that it was Ombudsman Morales herself who headed an independent constitutional body that reviewed Lozada’s case. – With Delon Porcalla