Saturday, April 12, 2008 Lozada confirms threats to his safety
NATIONAL broadband network (NBN)-ZTE star witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. on Friday got another scolding from justices of the Court of Appeals (CA) hearing the amparo petition filed by his brother to stop alleged harassment on their family.
Sitting on the witness stand for the first time, Lozada insisted that the threats to his safety are serious and it was from government institutions where these threats are coming from.
Asked where the threats against him were coming, he replied that they came from the group of former election chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., the group of businessmen Ruben Reyes and the group of retired General Quirino dela Torre.
Lozada said the threats, mostly sent through text messaging, increased after his testimony before the Senate. He said he has gotten tired of reading the threats he received on his cellular phone.
During direct examination by Lozada's lawyer Rex Fernandez, he informed the court how he was accosted by four or five unidentified men when he arrived from Hong Kong at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) on February 5.
He said he was brought inside a car waiting at the airport tarmac.
Lozada told the court that while threats to his safety continued, he would decline any offer of protection from the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) although he may accept protection from the Senate or some other military units.
But Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tang objected to Fernandez's leading questions and Lozada's lengthy answers, an observation also noted by justices, who irately told the witness to stop answering questions from taking the circuitous route in responding to questions answerable by a simple "yes" or "no."
"You should be more responsible in answering. This court is not like other bodies or forum where you can say anything you want," said Associate Justice Celia Librea-Leagogo.
"It's not like in the Senate here. We have our own rules and procedures," said Division chairman Justice Regalado Maambong.
Lozada replied: "I'm sorry your honor, it's my first time (to appear) here."
Leagogo further pointed out to Lozada that if he continued to receive threats from his mobile phone, he should have returned it to the government, which issued it for his official use.
The witness said one reason behind his refusing police protection was PNP Chief Avelino Razon Jr.'s declaration that he (Lozada) requested for security when in no such request was made.
He further said he felt helpless and "overpowered" when he was accosted by unidentified men at the tube of the plane he was disembarking from. He said two of them grabbed him on the arm, one took his bag and another snatched his passport from his breast pocket.
When he asked the men where he was being taken, Lozada said they refused to tell him. He said he told the men that people waiting for him at the airport would be worried if he did not show up, but to no avail.
Lozada said on the eve of his departure from Hong Kong, he spoke with his erstwhile superior, Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, who told him to proceed to the Bureau of Immigration counter and from there he would be "facilitated" so that he would get away from the Senate sergeant-at-arms waiting to arrest him. He said Atienza also told him to proceed home right away.
He said he "sensed hostility" in the way the men met him, who never identified themselves to him.
"I was never told that I will be met (when I step out of the plane). When I met the men, I felt overpowered. I know they are in full control of the area. I know if I make a commotion, it would be useless because people would just watch," he told the court, describing the men who whisked him away as dressed in barong or civilian clothes, and sporting military haircuts.
He said the men "never identified" themselves, while some of the men even temporarily barred the exit to the plane and kept passengers from leaving while he was being accosted in the tube.
From the tube, Lozada said he and the men took a detour leading to the departure area and proceeded to an elevator near the duty free shop that led to the tarmac, where a pearly white Toyota Altis car was waiting.
Tang, after the hearing, said the fact that Lozada never received any direct threat from the respondents only showed that the NBN witness had no case at all and that his claims of threats were just pure speculations.
"So as of this time, he has no evidence against any of the respondents. The only thing he kept on repeating was the one phoned threat he received threats from Abalos and that is all," she said.
Named respondents in the amparo case were President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the PNP chief, Aviation Security Group agent Rodolfo Valeroso and Manila International Airport assistant general manager for security Angel Atutubo. (ECV/Sunnex)
