Lozada surrenders, posts P60,000 bail

MANILA, Philippines - Graft whistle-blower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and his brother Jose Orlando went to the Sandiganbayan yesterday and posted bail several hours after they surrendered to the police.

Lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno and several nuns from the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) accompanied Lozada to the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division to post bail.

Lozada posted a P60,000 bail while his brother and co-accused posted a P30,000 bail. They also submitted photographs and gave fingerprint samples.

Lozada and his brother surrendered yesterday morning to the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in connection with their warrants of arrest on graft charges.

The Lozada brothers are facing graft charges filed by the Office of the Ombudsman for an allegedly anomalous transaction in 2007 when the NBN project anomaly witness was then president of the government-run Philippine Forest Corp. (Philforest).

The Sandiganbayan issued arrest warrants against the Lozada brothers late last month and set the arraignment on March 6.

Lozada is in a difficult situation being the Ombudsman’s star witness in graft cases against former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former officials of her administration in connection with the alleged anomalous $329-million national broadband network (NBN) contract forged by the government with the Chinese firm ZTE Corp. in 2007.

The NBN-ZTE deal was later cancelled due to public outcry after the anomaly was exposed.

On the other hand, Lozada is an accused in a separate graft case.

“It has been a very tiring day for me, psychologically and physically draining,” Lozada told The STAR after posting bail, noting that his bail was shouldered by the AMRSP through donations while his brother’s bail was paid by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, apparently out of his desire to help because they do not actually know each other.

“We are very much willing to see this through,” Lozada added, believing that he should remain careful and wary of his safety because “the bail didn’t make him bullet proof.”

Lozada said the attempts of armed violence against him during the past days, the arrest warrants, and all that is happening are making him look at who or what could be the source of it all.

“Where is it coming from? There must be some more to this, meaning this case, legally speaking, is so small. Only a well funded group could mount this kind of resources against me,” he said.

Lozada, according to the graft charge lodged by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales in August last year, granted questionable leasehold rights to his brother and a private firm.

The Ombudsman indicted him for two counts of violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Surrender to CIDG

The AMRSP nuns and Diokno earlier accompanied Lozada and his brother to the office of Chief Superintendent Federico Castro, officer-in-charge of the CIDG at Camp Crame, Quezon City.

The brothers begged off from interviews, saying they were tired.

Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Generoso Cerbo Jr., said the brothers were subjected to booking procedures by the CIDG, where their mug shots and fingerprint samples were taken.

The Lozadas also underwent physical examination before they proceeded to the Sandiganbayan to post bail.

“Just like any other person who has a standing warrant of arrest, Lozada and his brother were processed for documentation and medical examination by the SOCO at the CIDG conference room,” Cerbo added.

Marlon Lacal of the AMRSP decried the alleged harassment against Lozada as four fake agents of the NBI were reportedly roaming near his house.

He said the fate of Lozada would only discourage other whistle-blowers from surfacing.

Sister Mary John Mananzan of the AMRSP said they would continue to support Lozada in the trial of his graft case “because we believe in him.”