Thursday, March 06, 2008 Editorial: How to treat Jun Lozada
CEBU City Vice Mayor Michael Rama fired the first salvo by saying Cebu does not need Senate “star witness” Rodolfo Lozada Jr. to tell Cebuanos about corruption.
Other local officials picked it up from there.
Rama, being a lawyer, knows there is no law that bars Lozada from coming to Cebu and accepting speaking engagements, like in school campuses as rumored.
Rama’s statement was probably a way of questioning Lozada’s motive in touring the country or downplaying his testimony on the national broadband network deal.
There should be no reason, then, for Lozada fans in Cebu to be jumpy.
Strategy
The problem in a polarized setup is that the protagonists, in their effort to defend their positions, sometimes jettison democratic principles like freedom of speech.
They believe that shutting out the views of their opponents is good strategy.
Note that even as Rama and other officials say they do not want to have anything to do with Lozada, the latter’s supporters do not also want people to criticize their idol.
Respect
The fault here is the failure of both sides to respect the people’s capacity to sift through the arguments and statements issued on the controversy to ferret out the truth.
To say, for example, that Cebuanos will accept as gospel truth all that Lozada will say in his visit is to insult their intelligence and to raise his stature to that of a saint.
A quick check with people on the street will show that there are more discerning and analytical people out there than what many political observers may concede.
Gag attempt
The reason why Lozada’s stock as a witness rose was because the Arroyo administration attempted to prevent him from testifying in the Senate probe.
Had Lozada been given some slack, public attention would have been focused on the substance of his testimony and not on why Malacañang wanted to gag him.
Critics should be told that the only way to expose Lozada, that is if he is a sham, is to let him trip over his speeches and actions and not to prevent him from doing so.
