MANILA, Philippines — Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr., the man who exposed anomalies in the Arroyo administration’s planned national broadband network, and his brother were transferred to the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) yesterday.
Jun and his brother, Orlando, were taken from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detention facility after their commitment orders were released.
The Sandiganbayan in 2016 convicted the Lozada siblings for graft after Jun granted a six-hectare leasehold right to Orlando when the former was president of the state-owned Philippine Forest Corp. They were sentenced to serve up to 10 years in prison.
Jun was known for being the whistleblower of the NBN-ZTE deal entered by the government under former president and now reelectionist Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Chinese telecommunication firm ZTE.
He and Orlando surrendered to the NBI on June 2, when Jun posted on Facebook that the Supreme Court denied his appeal.
Before his transfer to the NBI, Jun told reporters he would bid goodbye to supporters and asked them to continue praying for him and his brother.
The brothers were in handcuffs and clad in orange shirts and shorts as they were transported to the NBP. They tested negative for COVID-19 before their transfer.— Ralph Edwin Villanueva