ZTE broadband whistle-blower, brother surrender to NBI

MANILA, Philippines — Rodolfo Lozada Jr., the man who blew the whistle on the aborted national broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp. during the Arroyo administration, has surrendered to authorities along with his brother to face imprisonment for graft conviction.

Lozada and brother Jose Orlando surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Thursday after the Supreme Court denied their appeal of their conviction for graft over an anomalous land deal.

The Lozada brothers coordinated with the NBI on Monday for their surrender, according to NBI Special Action Unit executive officer Kristine dela Cruz.

The NBI official said Lozada was in tears during his surrender as he recalled a conversation with his daughter about the turn of events in his life.

His daughter was reportedly in anguish over his being the one punished by law despite his service to the country.

In an interview with ANC, Lozada said he has “no regrets standing up for the truth.”

“I could have never done it otherwise,” Lozada said.

Asked about the possible chilling effect of his imprisonment on future whistleblowers, Lozada said: “Evil will never defeat goodness.”

Lozada is detained at the NBI headquarters while awaiting Sandiganbayan’s commitment order.

In a tweet yesterday, former Kabataan party-list representative Mong Palatino, an activist during the Arroyo administration, said Lozada’s conviction exposed the “rotten politics” in the country.

“Those who speak against corruption get jailed, while plunderers get elected with their stolen wealth,” Palatino said in Filipino.

Lozada, who was involved in the NBN project as technical adviser to then National Economic and Development Authority director general Romulo Neri, had accused former elections chief Benjamin Abalos and former first gentleman Mike Arroyo of brokering for China to have the multibillion-dollar deal approved.

The 2007 project – cancelled by Mrs. Arroyo at the height of the controversy – would have interconnected government offices nationwide through broadband technology.

In 2016, the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division convicted Lozada of graft for unlawfully awarding the lease contract of 6,599 hectares of public land under the Philippine Forest Corp.’s Lupang Hinirang Program to his brother.

Lozada was then president and chief executive officer of the state-owned corporation. They were sentenced to six to 10 years’ imprisonment.

“I’m feeling really low. It’s difficult. I once said before, eight years ago, one of the lessons I learned is that the opposite of fear is courage. In reality, the opposite of fear is faith. So I’m holding on to faith in God,” Lozada said in 2016 after his conviction.

“This must really be the fate of the ordinary Filipino,” he added.