Lozada emerges at La Salle after signing affidavits

MANILA, Philippines – Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr., the key witness in the aborted national broadband network (NBN) deal “missing” since Tuesday, surfaced before dawn yesterday and said he was forced to sign statements to make it appear he requested police security upon his arrival at the airport.

Lozada, a former government consultant on the $329-million NBN contract with ZTE Corp., was taken into police custody Tuesday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal I after he returned from a trip to Hong Kong, in what police officials said was a move to protect his life.

A haggard Lozada said men he did not know met him at the airport and told him they were sent by his boss, Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza.

“I was taken from the airport, there was, I guess there was just a miscommunication because I did not know I was to be taken from the (airport) tube. So, I was taken from a tube, I was not prepared for that. From there I did not know the route yet,” he said.

Lozada said he became confused after the men who had taken him refused his request to meet his family and the media waiting for him at the airport.

“When I told them that I need to show myself first so that those who were waiting for me will not be alarmed, they said that it’s already been taken care of. So I just had to go with them and was driven around,” he said.

Flanked by priests and nuns in a pre-dawn press conference at the De La Salle campus in Greenhills, Lozada read a prepared statement detailing how he was taken from the airport and dragged into a vehicle that proceeded to Laguna before turning back to Metro Manila.

Lozada said he had the impression there was a miscommunication between two groups who wanted to fetch him at the airport.

“I was not told that I’m being taken from the tube so naturally that was a general concern. Who is this group that’s taking me?” he asked.

To placate fears that might arise from his sudden disappearance, Lozada urged those who “fetched” him at the airport to take him to the sanctuary of the La Salle Brothers.

From there, Lozada held a press conference and claimed he was forced to sign several affidavits to make it appear that he was asking police protection from the government.

“My wife is already staying here at the Brothers’ house, so I asked the group who took me to just bring me back to the Brothers’ house to La Salle Greenhills, that’s why I’m here,” Lozada told the news conference held at the La Salle Greenhills High School.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Avelino Razon earlier said Lozada was being held at the request of a sibling who sought protective custody for him because “they fear for his safety.”

Razon did not say who was threatening Lozada, or who asked that he be placed under protection.

Lozada, however, denied seeking police protection but admitted signing some of the affidavits out of confusion.

“I signed it without really (reading it), I signed some affidavits... I signed some security request so, please bear with me... I signed it in their company,” he said.

Lozada admitted that there was no explicit intimidation from the men who fetched him. “It’s more of implicit because I do not know them, I did not get their names and units... I am sure they were responding to orders as well,” Lozada noted.

“I’ll be a hypocrite if I tell that I did not get scared,” he said.

Lozada’s family maintained he was forcibly taken by the PNP as they filed a writ of habeas corpus and writ of amparo before the Supreme Court.

Lozada’s wife, Violeta, filed the petition Wednesday seeking his release, claiming he was kidnapped by authorities to prevent him from testifying at the Senate on the corruption scandal.

The Supreme Court allowed the writ of amparo yesterday ordering respondents that include President Arroyo, Razon, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) deputy for security retired general Angel Atutubo, and a certain SPO4 Roger Valeroso — the policeman who supposedly fetched Lozada at the airport — to file their reply within five days.

The High Court, however, did not require the respondents to produce Lozada since he had surfaced before dawn yesterday in a press conference.

No tale of the tapes

Airport authorities, on the other hand, declined to provide the video footage on how Lozada was escorted out of the airport last Wednesday.

“We are reviewing the  tapes, there is no urgency to show them to the media since Lozada was not kidnapped as alleged,” airport general manager Alfonso Cusi said.

He said it would take some time to review the tapes since they contained many hours of surveillance footage and it would take some time to review them.

Lozada was welcomed upon emerging from the plane, a Cathay Pacific flight CX919, by Atutubo and the supposed representative of the PNP’s Police Security Protection Office (PSPO).

An unofficial count shows that there are about six closed-circuit TV monitors along the route that Lozada and his escorts followed, from the moment he came out of the passenger tube, up to the time he boarded the vehicle at the tarmac.

Lozada was supposedly approached by Atutubo and the PSPO representative at the moment he emerged from the plane.

The group then entered the pre-departure area, walked up the stairs to the departure concourse, walked some distance to the elevator, which is just across the duty-free Philippine shop.

The elevator went down to the tarmac where the party boarded a vehicle. There are many CCTVs  at the tarmac, for security reasons.

The room where the CCTVs are located is called Emergency Operations Center, under the charge of Capt. Manuel Wong.

Sources pointed out Wong had access to the tapes showing how Lozada could have been snatched from the airport.

Officials, however, maintained Lozada was fetched from the airport upon his request for security.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno claimed Lozada merely “stayed” for only three to four hours with his PSPO security escorts from the time he was fetched from the airport to the sanctuary of the La Salle Brothers.

Razon, for his part, maintained Lozada had requested the security detail.

He described Lozada to be “fearful, anxious” because of the arrest warrant issued to him by the Senate to appear before the panel investigating the NBN controversy.

Razon also said the PNP has a written statement on his request for security.

“In fact, I was able to talk to him (Lozada) Wednesday night and he was (even) very apologetic. He said ‘Chief, please accept my apologies for the inconvenience’ and I replied ‘no problem, we are always at your service’,” Razon said.

Razon said Lozada’s immediate superior, Atienza, also requested the security detail for Lozada and his family.

‘Free to move around’

To disprove allegations of a snatch, Senior Superintendent Paul Mascariñas of the PSPO narrated how they fetched Lozada from the airport on Wednesday.

Mascariñas recalled PSPO director Chief Superintendent Romeo Hilomen ordered him to proceed to the NAIA in the afternoon to secure Lozada.

He claimed proper coordination was made with airport authorities.

According to Mascariñas, when he asked Lozada where he wanted to proceed, the official answered he just wanted to go home in Pasig.

“But due to security reasons, I suggested that he should go to another place instead. While thinking of a safer place to go, we continued on driving until we reached the South  Superhighway,” Mascariñas said.

He noted Lozada had called a number of people, including his family, during the trip.

Later, Mascariñas said Lozada decided to stop at Outback Steakhouse to meet his lawyer where they had dinner.

“Since Lozada did not have the money, his lawyer paid for the food which cost about P6,000 for four persons,” he said.

After the dinner, Mascariñas noted that their group went directly to La Salle in Mandaluyong where Lozada held a press conference at dawn yesterday.

Before proceeding, Mascariñas said he asked Lozada to prepare a handwritten request for a security detail.

“When we got to the (La Salle) compound, we met Bro. Felipe, Lozada’s wife, five kids and his sister Carmen… He was free to move around. They were at the third floor of the dormitory and the PSPO personnel were on the ground all the time,” he said.

“Lozada was never subjected to any form of restriction, his  constitutional rights were never curtailed and he was never kidnapped,” Mascariñas said.

After arriving from Hong Kong Tuesday, Lozada mysteriously disappeared and surfaced at a press conference at the La Salle Greenhills High School two days later.

Lozada also announced in the news conference at La Salle his resignation as chairman and chief executive officer of Philippine Forest Corp. under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

After the early dawn news conference, Lozada was formally turned over to the custody of the Senate yesterday through the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-At-Arms team led by Col. Jaime Dimacali.

He was welcomed by Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Alan Peter Cayetano who assured the resigned official of his safety inside the Senate premises. Lozada is set to testify today before the Senate on his knowledge surrounding the NBN controversy.

Lozada served as a technical consultant to former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri when they were discussing the NBN contract with China’s ZTE Corp.

Lozada has emerged as a key witness in the scandal that exploded last year when First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was implicated in the inquiry at the Senate.

During the press conference, Lozada tearfully vowed to reveal all he knew about the NBN project.

Opposition senators believe Lozada may be the missing link in their effort to prove the President and her husband were involved in approving the deal, which was eventually scrapped. – With Mike Frialde, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Rudy Santos, Edu Punay, Perseus Echeminada, Rainier Allan Ronda, AP