Some pieces of an unwholesome puzzle

Let me wish everyone a happy Easter. I open up with this greeting because I am going to dwell on the recent visit to our city of Engr. Rodolfo Lozada, Jr. His sojourn so left a wake of heightened emotions among Cebuanos that I am certain that this piece, structured in the off tangent nature of this column, stands a good chance of being misunderstood. 

As a backgrounder to the uninitiated, like “balikbayans” who just flew back home, Engr. Lozada got the label of being the whistleblower of the ZTE-NBN transaction. The statements he made before a Senate investigation highlighted the abyss of corruption our high officials have apparently fallen into. Thus, when the term “moderate (their) greed”, which he spoke of in the senate hearings, incensed thousands of Filipinos, the government reacted by announcing a cancellation of what otherwise was a done deal.

More than a week ago, I received messages, from someone who sits high in the board of a sensitive government body, asking me if I knew that His Eminence, Cardinal Ricardo J. Vidal, was summoned to Malacañang. That I did not know was my quick reply. 

The way the texts were composed made me feel uncomfortable. If they only related to the presence of our church leader in the nation’s capital, it was not unusual. Despite the constitutional demarcation providing the separation of church and state, there was nothing wrong for Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to see the Cardinal Vidal.

Such kind of meeting had precedents. Did not former Pres. Joseph Estrada, many times, personally seek the advice of Cardinal Vidal?

But, the texts suggested that the cardinal was called to help deny Mr. Lozada any warm welcome to our fold and some political undertones of the kind I am not at liberty to reveal.  I could not simply dismiss them as mischievous rumors because they came from a very responsible government officer. In fact, to be fair to the other end, my “texter” asked me to just keep my eyes open.

Then came the word that some groups planned to invite Engr. Jun Lozada to Cebu City, ostensibly to further “the search for truth”. Before it could be ascertained when he would hit town, His Eminence declared that the appearance of Mr. Lozada was not necessary because we, meaning the Cebuanos, already understood the issue, or words to that effect. And from the exchange of comments on that topic, the texts from Manila started to mean something.

Next came the news of the meeting of the cardinal and the president. It was not a strange event. The clarification by the prelate that his audience with the country’s chief executive was not his purpose in going to Manila was, in all probability, true. However, his claim that he was simply on a balcony of a residence near Wack-wack, when seen by someone and whose sight led to his chance meeting Pres. Arroyo, was, even if believable because made by a credible person, too good to be true. The story itself did not inspire absolute belief. The Manila texts assumed more meaning.

It was possible that Mr. Lozada and his coterie of friends had also read the same news story. While I believed the report, they, owing to more substantive information, might have a different perception. Perhaps, when they pieced together various data, plus their disputed claim of a sudden withdrawal of a priest from officiating a Mass, it was then that they made some unwholesome deductions hurtful of the Archbishop. Who knows?

Mr. Jun Lozada should not have expected a Mass said simply because he was present. His being a whistleblower did not make him anywhere near a saint! But, if his hosts got an earlier commitment for a priest to say it in his midst, they should have also been earlier advised that it was not going to happen anymore. Such a notice should have been given before Mr. Lozada set foot in our soil. It was not right to admonish the priest against officiating it only on the day the whistleblower came.

Anyway, however the ensuing events clear the puzzle, I hope the same shall allow us to rectify our errors and strengthen our resolve to achieve the truth.