An emerging truth

There is no argument that so-called whistleblowers need help and encouragement. Without them, it would be very difficult to obtain inside information on the many anomalies that weigh down this country and its government.

But there is also a need to be very discerning about which whistleblowers to help. It is, for instance, necessary to find out if a whistleblower surfaced because he realized his mistake, or whether, caught in a bind, he surrendered only to save his own skin.

Unfortunately for this country, many of the whistleblowers we have seen are of the latter mold. Jun Lozada, for example, didn't come in from the cold because of a tweak in his conscience. He was actually trying to flee when some people found some use for his knowledge.

The sad thing about the whole Lozada episode is that some nuns allowed themselves to be used in the high-stakes political gambits that continue to be played out even to this day. They gave Lozada food and shelter, and then bail money when the law finally caught up with him.

Lozada is not as clean as the nuns would like to project him. He was deep into the cases he exposed. His only saving grace is that he has the goods, or at least claims to have them, for use against a person that everybody loves to hate.

But the end never justifies the means, not even if you are nuns, who could have found better use for their time, money and effort serving God's mission instead of getting themselves embroiled in some dirty political game.

There are a lot of people crying out there, begging for even just a shoulder to cry on, and it makes one wonder whether any of the nuns who coddled Lozada on their laps would have given even a fraction of their attention to their miserable plight.

If the nuns are as discerning as they pretend to be, even this late in the game they should already clearly see the kind of person Lozada truly is. Right after he posted bail, Lozada refused to face the media, claiming he was tired.

Tired? How can he claim he is tired when he has been living it up in the lap of luxury under the tender loving care of the nuns? He never tired of facing the media or anybody who cared to listen when he was still hamming it up like the spy hero who came in from the cold.

When Lozada was still the toast of the town, anybody with a press card can interview Lozada anytime anywhere. The wee hours of the morning never seemed to sap his strength for as long as he was still the darling of the press, the man who had the beans to spill.

But as said earlier, Lozada is not the person to whom some archangel appeared with a special announcement. He was just one of the guys who suddenly found himself out of the loop. He was on the run, until some people with an agenda of their own plucked him for their own ends.

Now the tables have turned. A hundred nuns proclaiming Lozada a saint cannot hide the fact that he is far from being one. The real Lozada is beginning to emerge, and his sudden, out of character refusal to talk to media is just one indicator.

The question now is, left with the hot potato, how will the nuns react? My guess is that they will go all the way to hell with Lozada instead of living with the embarrassment at having backed the wrong horse.

What a pity that the bitter fruit of the nuns' political folly should be reaped at this time when the Church is in flux following the announcement of Pope Benedict XVI that he is resigning. The pope said he is old and tired. He should be, with so many shenanigans from within.