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Cebu City, Philippines - Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal voiced hope that the Senate could identify the people behind the controversial broadband deal to resolve the issue peacefully and restore the people?s trust in government.
?Let the truth come out whatever it is or whoever will be hurt, but the truth must come out,? he said Monday.
The prelate talked to reporters while government officials in Manila took turns assailing the claim of star witness Rodolfo Lozada Jr., that he was abducted as soon as he arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last week.
Lozada, a telecommunications expert, had claimed that retired Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. brokered the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) project in exchange for $130 million in commissions, with the knowledge of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.
Arroyo and Abalos have both denied the accusation.
?You know corruption is humanity's sickness in the governance of people. We have to pray to Our Lady of Lourdes that we be healed through the exposition of the truth in whatever level of the governance of the people,? said Vidal, speaking on the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Cardinal Vidal said it is the stance of the Church to work against graft and corruption and that it would continue doing so.
?As we are doing here, we have a group here, the Dilaab (Foundation, Inc.). We will continue our work against corruption in a Christian way and we hope that the result of all these investigation will be a peaceful resolution of the problems in our government,? he added.
The Cardinal said the protection given by priests and nuns to Lozada does not mean that the Church is siding with any group.
?We do not know where they (the priests and nuns with Lozada) are siding. I, myself, do not like to be partisan. I do not want to be judgmental,? he added.
But he underscored that the Church leaders do not have the authority to determine the outcome of the case.
?It is up to the courts, up to the government to evaluate this one and make a decision,? said Vidal.
He also said that he would not tell the people what to do regarding the controversial issue.
?Let the people decide but in a very peaceful and constitutional way as much as possible,? he said.
Hearing
During Monday?s Senate hearing, Lozada admitted he did not want to testify before the Senate on the allegedly tainted NBN contract with China?s ZTE Corp., which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo eventually scrapped.
The hearing took up the Senate?s day, with the regular session declared open and closed after a couple of minutes since most of the senators attended the inquiry.
At the resumption of the Senate inquiry, Lozada, reacting to the statements of government and police officials summoned to Monday?s hearing, said he was sure it was not the police who fetched him at the airport and took him around Laguna and Cavite.
Retired general Angel Atutubo, chief airport security official and one of the officials who appeared at the hearing, admitted that Lozada did not pass through the immigration counter upon his arrival last Tuesday from Hong Kong.
Atutubo?s admission came after Senators Rodolfo Biazon and Francis Pangilinan pointed out the security lapse.
?Bakit hindi pinadaan sa immigration [Why was he not allowed to pass through immigration]?? Atutubo was asked.
?That was a violation of the law. You even escorted him out without passing through immigration,? Biazon said.
Villar
Senate President Manuel Villar asked the blue-ribbon committee to conduct an ocular inspection of the airport route taken by Lozada so that the testimonies at the Senate are understood.
His suggestion, which will be decided by the committee later, will cover the route taken from the plane to the car.
At the same time, the committee, after being told that the video from the airport would not show what happened at Gate 7, where Lozada supposedly passed on exiting the plane, decided not to play the footage.
Lozada said he was turned over to the Police Security and Protection Office (PSPO) only after the dinner and interview with the lawyer at the Outback Restaurant.
He said the men who fetched him at the airport refused to identify themselves, but would only tell him: ?Kaming bahala sa yo [We?ll take care of you].?
?I really did not feel they were my protector[s]. They would have at least answered me when I asked them who they were....hanggang lumayo ng lumayo kami sa Maynila [until we went farther and farther from Manila],? he said.
And while they did take him to La Salle Greenhills, Lozada said his escorts wanted to bring him to Rembrandt Hotel at around 11 a.m.
?I am really sure that the ones who took me from the airport are different from those who took me to La Salle,? he said.
Lozada also said he did not voluntarily give his hand-carry bag, his computer bag, and his passport to the men who fetched him.
?My bags were taken from me...Colonel [Senior Superintendent Paul] Mascariñas [of the PSPO] was always with me,? he said.
Lozada said he was not free to move, as there was only one exit and his escorts were always with him.
?I've always admitted that I did not want to go to the Senate. But they keep forgetting that I have always had three requests, the other two were that the death threats stop and that I cannot lie if I go to the Senate,? he said.
?It was the police who were always in control,? he said.
Defensor
Former presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said Lozada told him five times that he did not want to testify at the Senate when the former Cabinet official visited the witness in La Salle Greenhills in Mandaluyong City.
Lawyer Antonio Bautista said Lozada was not under duress when he signed the affidavit, which he was supposed to submit to the Senate and even made corrections to the document in his own handwriting.
Bautista, a former law partner of Senator Juan Ponce-Enrile and the late Senator Renato Cayetano in the Pecabar Law Firm, also presented to the Senate a copy of the affidavit that bore Lozada's corrections.
Bautista also denied Lozada's claim that he told the latter that the affidavit was drafted for the ?comfort of Malacañang.?
Lozada had told the Senate that he had ?reservations? about a provision that said he did not talk to any government official about the ZTE deal and that he dealt only with technical people.
Razon
In their testimonies earlier on Monday, Manila International Airport Authority general manager Alfonso Cusi, Philippine National Police Chief Avelino Razon Jr. and Environment Secretary Joe ?Lito? Atienza claimed that Lozada, a former environment official and technical consultant of the NBN agreement, was not kidnapped to prevent him from testifying at the Upper House.
Razon denied this and said that the police was successful in securing him as he is ?alive and well? now.
Razon said he thought that Lozada's life was in his hands because the witness told him that he was afraid for his life.
Razon said he was surprised that Lozada had been talking to other senators.
Atienza said Lozada had asked for his help before leaving for abroad because the witness did not want to appear before the Senate.
?I advised him to stick to the truth. I just told him to get good legal advice,? he said.
?I feel violated. He shouldn't have come to me for help,? he added. /With Inquirer report
