Wednesday, March 12, 2008 No need to give hero's welcome to NBN-ZTE star witness: Vidal
THERE is no need for the Archdiocese of Cebu to invite whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and listen to his testimonies again.
According to Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, Cebuanos are intelligent enough to understand his side of the story.
“Why do we have to make him a hero?” he told reporters yesterday after he celebrated mass at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
Lozada, an electronics engineer who was hired as a consultant for former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri on the US$329-million ZTE deal, is a key witness in the National Broadband Network (NBN) controversy.
He has testified that Neri asked him to “moderate the greed” of Arroyo administration allies, who allegedly asked for US$130 million in kickbacks.
He will be in Cebu on March 17 to attend a forum at the University of San Carlos main campus gym starting at 10 a.m.
According to Cebuanos for Truth, the organizers of the event, students, religious, academe, and civil society will attend the forum.
When asked earlier what could be the impact of Lozada’s visit to Cebu’s Catholic community, Vidal declined to answer.
“I don’t know. I’m not a prophet,” he said instead.
However, he stressed in yesterday’s interview that the Archdiocese of Cebu is only after the clarification of “controversial issues these days.”
In the “privacy” of last Monday’s monthly clergy recollection at the Sacred Heart Center in Jakosalem St., Cebu City, the prelate disclosed that the Archdiocese’s commission on the continuing clergy formation invited Presidential Management Staff Director General Cerge Remonde to explain the side of the government in the controversy.
“Cerge Remonde is from the part of the government. We want to know exactly the truth. What was being said by him is public (knowledge). Then he explained to us the part of the government. He also said too many other things (including projects of current administration),” said the prelate.
Aiding Remonde in his task was a blue primer called “Praymer sa NBN-ZTE.” Copies of this were made available during the recollection.
Vidal admitted that he has yet to read the primer, which contains questions and answers in Filipino regarding the NBN-ZTE deal.
The primer also gives an overview on the deal with references to events involving Lozada, Neri, former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos and Jose “Joey” de Venecia III.
While the primer states that it aims to distinguish what is true and what is false in the midst of noisy accusations, news, and commentaries, it also asks readers to allow due process in court to shed light on the controversy.
“The priests reacted (in a positive way). That’s it. They are intelligent. They asked so many questions. But no, they did not question the presence of Cerge Remonde because kababayan man (he is a fellow Cebuano). With that, we listened to a portion and listened to another. It’s for the priests and the lay people to understand,” said Vidal.
He said priests also “tried to advance opinions on what they can do on the issue.”
Yesterday, the prelate led more than 300 priests in the yearly renewal of their commitment to priestly service and their vows of obedience and celibacy in the Archdiocese of Cebu.
“Let us be ready and resolved to preach what we believe and to practice what we preach, as we vowed to do on ordination day. I hope your ‘Yes, I do’ then is still the ‘I am’ today, loud and clear, convinced and courageous, sincere and serious,” Vidal told the priests. (NRC)
