How graft raps end up in PH

The Supreme Court recently upheld the dismissal of a two-star general for his role in the 2009 police chopper scam. Herold Ubalde was a one-star general when fired by the Ombudsman in 2012. Reason: serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the service.

Ubalde was head of Legal Services when the PNP purchased three helicopters for P105 million. Specifications were for fully-equipped brand-new police models. Two turned out to be repainted civilian units used for five years by then-first gentleman Mike Arroyo. The deal was first exposed in this column.

The SC ruling on Ubalde was dated March 28, 2022 but publicized only on May 20. He was among 14 officers administratively sanctioned by the Ombudsman in 2012. Also dismissed with forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetually barred from public office were corporals, sergeants, majors, colonels and generals: Leocadio Santiago Jr., George Piano, Job Nolan Antonio, Edgar Paatan, Mansue Lukban, Claudio Gaspar Jr., Luis Saligumba, Ermilando Villafuerte, Roman Loreto, Ma. Josefina Reco, Ma. Linda Padojinog, Avensuel Dy and Ruben Gongona.

The SC affirmed their punishments in 2018 but exonerated Padojinog this week. With 19 other civilians and police brass, they are still being tried at the Sandiganbayan for criminal charges of graft.

Mike Arroyo recently was removed from the roster of those criminally accused. The SC ordered the Sandiganbayan to “drop Arroyo from the information... in the criminal case... at any stage of the proceedings.” The Ombudsman prosecutor failed to establish probable cause, the SC ruled: “The element of conspiracy with a public officer was not established.”

Arroyo had claimed in defense that he was a stranger to the PNP’s helicopter seller. The choppers were transacted by his family-owned LTA Inc. in 2003, when his brother Ignacio Arroyo was president. He alleged to have divested from the firm before then. Ignacio died in January 2012, four months before the criminal raps were filed.

The SC clearance of Arroyo was dated Dec. 1, 2021 but released only last Holy Week, April 10. Trial goes on of the co-accused.

There must be a lesson there for Li’l Injuns tempted to sin.

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The SC recently affirmed the imprisonment of NBN-ZTE whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada for graft. He will be behind bars for six to ten years. “But I have no regret for telling the truth,” he declared.

Lozada was among the main witnesses against the overpriced national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp. First exposed in this column in March 2007, the equipment and services were for $130 million but padded with $200-million (P10-billion) kickback. In the ensuing Senate inquiry, whistleblowers implicated then-president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, first gentleman Mike Arroyo and then-Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos.

Five months later, Lozada surfaced to solidify the testimonies. Rejecting bribes of cash and emigration, then escaping abduction to silence him, he detailed how economic secretary Romulo Neri was arm-twisted to grant ZTE the deal. He was then president of state-owned Philippine Forest Corp.

The Ombudsman indicted the Arroyos and Abalos before the Sandiganbayan in 2012. Also that year Lozada and his brother were accused of graft in a PFC woodland lease. Main witness against Lozada was his former program manager, whom Malacañang appointed to replace him.

The Sandiganbayan convicted the Lozadas in 2016. That same year, the anti-graft court absolved the Arroyos and Abalos.

The Lozadas appealed the sentencing all the way to the SC. In July 2021 the SC upheld the jail term, but publicized it only last March.

“My enemies threatened to make me regret telling the truth,” Lozada told me then. “Yes, they succeeded in sending me to prison, but they failed to buy my soul.”

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