Lozada, brod plead not guilty to graft raps

MANILA, Philippines - Whistle-blower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. yesterday pleaded not guilty to graft cases filed against him before the Sandiganbayan, where he stands accused of granting questionable leasehold rights of government property when he was president of Philippine Forest Corp. (Philforest) six years ago.

Lozada’s brother Jose Orlando also presented himself before the anti-graft court’s Fourth Division to be arraigned on the same charges lodged by the Office of the Ombudsman.

“Not guilty,” they both said after the accusations against them were read and after being asked to enter a plea to alleged violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

The Sandiganbayan, with the conformity of prosecution and defense lawyers, scheduled the pre-trial hearing of the cases on April 3 before trial begins.

After only a few minutes, the same ombudsman prosecutors who will try to convict him again presented Lozada before the Fourth Division as one of their witnesses against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo, former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr., and former transportation secretary Leandro Mendoza in the $329-million national broadband network (NBN) graft case.

For two hours, Lozada repeated the testimony he gave before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearings in 2008 on the issue of alleged kickbacks and commissions surrounding the botched contract between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corp.

Answering questions from the prosecution on direct examination and defense lawyers during cross-examination, Lozada again told the Sandiganbayan how he met former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Romulo Neri in 2001, became his technical consultant in 2003 before meeting Abalos in 2006, when he got involved in the NBN project.

“As we understand it... Abalos was acting as broker for ZTE,” Lozada told Assistant Special Prosecutor Louella Mae Pesquerra.

He also admitted there was no written agreement or documents pertaining to his role in the transaction as a technical consultant.

Lozada again testified that businessman Jose de Venecia III also filed a proposal for an NBN project which had an initial cost of only $130 million through a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme, as against an initial cost of $260 million proposed by ZTE through a foreign loan.

Lozada said both had “big political sponsors” behind it, allegedly in the person of then Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and Mr. Arroyo who, during his testimony, was only mentioned during a supposed meeting with ZTE officials Yu Yong and Fan Yan in a Chinese restaurant in December 2006.

“The ZTE executives told me directly that they are concerned in the success of this project because of the advances made to chairman Abalos,” Lozada said.

He also repeated his testimony about a supposed meeting between Neri and ZTE officials in January 2007. He said Neri told ZTE officials that the NBN deal has not been approved yet, thus making the Chinese businessman furious with Abalos.

During the course of Lozada’s testimony, defense lawyers questioned the relevance and admissibility of Lozada’s testimony since the charges involve a supposedly disadvantageous contract that was, though later rescinded, signed allegedly in Malacañang.

Lozada will return to the Sandiganbayan today for another cross-examination before the prosecution presents two more witnesses.

After the hearing, Lozada again expressed dismay over his situation of being an accused in a graft case while at the same time also a key witness in another case against Arroyo and other former officials of her administration.

“I would testify for the government but then the government would prosecute me. Were it not for my advocacy of truth and justice, sometimes I just wonder where would this lead to,” he said.

Lozada remarked that he is in an odd situation where the lone witness to his case – current Philforest president Erwin Cruz – is being used by Malacañang as a trump card against him.