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Sunday, March 09, 2008
Palace accuses Lozada of blackmailing church
MANILA -- Malacañang on Saturday accused Rodolfo Lozada Jr. of blackmailing the Catholic Church to pressure it into throwing its full support behind him.
Lozada is the key witness in the Senate inquiry on the questionable US$329 million national broadband network (NBN) deal with China's ZTE Corp. He implicated First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo and former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. into the controversy.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Presidential Management Staff (PMS) head Cerge Remonde said reports that Lozada threatened to convert to another religion betrays his claim that he has no ulterior motives in his "truth crusade."
"Lozada threatened to bolt the Catholic Church if it does not support him. This shows what kind of people these people are," Remonde said.
He also scored other groups that demanded an accounting of advertisement expenses of the Church-run Radio Veritas because of advertisements from government agencies, including the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
Remonde said such calls smack of tactics to "pressure" media.
"Those are tactics to pressure media. That, to me will have a chilling effect on media. They are not yet in power but look at what they are doing now. You can just imagine their attitude once they are in power," he said.
For her part, Deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo questioned Lozada for insisting on going on campus tours nationwide when he is already getting television and radio exposure.
She said Lozada's tours, coupled with a sanctuary fund set up by nuns, smacks of a political bid in 2010.
"What is this patriotic fund, to protect him against legal suits that have not been filed? Will this be used as a campaign fund?" she said.
Fajardo also urged the faithful to spend the Lenten season being "discerning."
"Some groups just want to destroy the government and they won't stop. They will take every chance and opportunity. The best we can do is to pray for our country and hope people have an open and discerning mind," she said.
She added: "This is a time for prayer; we should have open hearts and minds. If not we will have a closed mindset and we will fail to understand." (JMR/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro. (March 9, 2008 issue)
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