Here is the transcript of his early morning press conference held at LaSalle Greenhills. Details in abash*t: The backstage of Rock Ed Philippines, in the entry Tired Brave Heart. and a photo page, JUN LOZADA, witness.
A background briefing by Newsbreak: Lozada: Benjamin Abalos and Mike Arroyo Behind Broadband Deal Overprice. A profile in the Inquirer: Just a ‘probinsyanong Intsik’
Lozada’s early morning presscon derailed plans in place by Michael Defensor to have held an afternoon press conference in which Lozada would then be made to read the government-prepared affidavits that out to lie any previous affidavits. That same evening, the President;s husband was obvious informed the coast is clear. Which have been the case if government minders hadn’t let down their guards and which allowed Lozada to contact friends who came forward and made the early morning press con possible.
late morning to mid-afternoon yesterday I was in the office of Senator Allan Peter Cayetano where Jun Lozada is being kept preparatory to his appearance before the Senate. It’s the first time I’ve encountered the man. He looked tired, his eye-bags were already purplish, and he was, understandably, rather high-strung, at times breaking down and sobbing as he recounted the ordeal he’s undergone -and which is continuing- and he said he was too tense to sleep and keep down his food properly. He had a firm handshake but his hand was clammy.
He will testify before the Senate, today, under oath, and so concerning the details of his being sent to Hong Kong, his stay there, his decision to come back, and what happened to him from the time the plane landed and he finally had his early morning press conference, we’ll all know his version of events soon enough.
What I did ponder upon, as I heard him recount recent events, is that there are many kinds of pressure that can be applied on a person to bend them to one’s will, and not all of them require brute force or overt threats.
Watching him and talking to him, I recalled something my father told me when I a small boy. I once asked him, what is courage? And he replied by telling me a story about his own father when they were on Corregidor. In the midst of the tunnel being shelled, he said his father spotted him cringing and biting his lip in fear; and his father told him that the truly brave man is not the man who doesn’t feel fear, but rather, the man who is filled with terror but does his duty anyway.
I can appreciate Lozada’s courage. Make no mistakes, he has faced among the worst kinds of peril I can imagine: a combined crisis of conscience, fears for his own life and that of his loved ones, the end of a career, the hostility of some friends and the harsh judgment of powerful patrons, uncertainty whether his answering the cries of his own conscience aren’t a foolhardy exercise. Being in such a pressure-cooker situation, contemplating the prospects of a kind of not only professional and financial suicide but of embarking on a sacrifice the public won’t even recognize -or possibly even deserve- whether at the end of a chain of events one initiated or in which one was swept up… Well, it’s enough to destroy anyone. His is the dilemma of a proud, perhaps overconfident man who has had to realize he is nowhere as clever, nimble, and important as he thought he was.
Let me explain what I mean by this, and these are all impressions.
To me, Lozada is no saint, or put another way, he represents the kind of man who finds himself at the center of great events, yet who could never have expected he would gain fame in such a perilous manner. He is the kind of man who doesn’t hold the actual power but who has access to those who wield power -and more importantly, has done so because he’s proven himself competent at certain things, and who thus holds a certain amount of authority.
And so, he is the kind of Useful Man who then believes that his competence and limited authority allows him to pull a kind of fast one in that, he can both tolerate a certain level of official wrongdoing, and yet accomplish something beneficial, because his efforts somehow mitigates the wrongdoing around him. (One of his more quotable quotes was his being advised by Neri to attend meetings to “moderate the greed” or words to that effect). Operating in a perpetual moral twilight, thinking it’s ultimately for the common good, can’t that then start tricking the senses into confusing twilight with the dawn? At least until a ray of light reminds that person of what the light is truly like.
Most of the questions I addressed to him were along these lines: if your work in the government involved tolerating a certain amount of official corruption, then what finally made you decide that a line had been reached you could no longer cross? He tried to explain by means of a parable.
He said that his work takes him to forestry areas and in one such area, he encountered a Dumagat. He pointed out to the Dumagat that the trees were heavily laden with fruit; that the fruit should be sold in the lowland towns. And the Dumagat replied, but those fruits are there to feed the birds. Lozada says he recalled that story when he encountered an official who, not content with the 3 billion Pesos in overpricing he (Lozada) was willing to let the official have, then insisted no, he (the official) should get 7 billion Pesos. That was simply unacceptable.
And again, I had to return to my question -what was the line, then? Essentially, this, Lozada said: percentages -commissions- say, up to 25%- are par for the course in government projects but beyond that, officials insisting on more have simply gone too far: their pound of flesh becomes so large as to deny the public any possible advantages or gains from the project. (This is not a direct quote, I am paraphrasing our exchanges.)
As he was expressing these thoughts I recalled something I’d heard from a defender of Romulo Neri, which was that his attitude, say concerning the North Rail Project, was that a certain amount of corruption was acceptable, so long as the public obtained something beneficial in the end: in this case, a railroad that should be built, anyway, without incurring heavy government obligations.
I must say that I am uncomfortable with his explanation: it makes sense, and on a certain level, yet betrays a kind of hubris. What he said does go to the heart of a very basic line (ultimately, a fluid one) most Filipinos instinctively draw, which is, that there are certain things that are just too crass -too garapal– that once crossed, can’t be tolerated. It is this, more than his obvious intelligence, or his being stuck in a perilous situation, that will resonate with the public. We navigate between our own personal spheres and the official one always conscious of the grey areas, always factoring in a certain amount of official malfeasance, but there always comes a time, even if we aren’t directly affected, when something is too much -too crass to tolerate.
But I do find it troubling that an official relies on a line he himself drew, on a basis that by its very nature must be vague or at least arbitrary, compared to the lines that should be drawn, beyond a shadow of a doubt, by the law. This is the kind of discretion that can result in a line so erasable and movable, that it becomes meaningless. In Lozada’s case he obviously resisted the temptation to keep moving the line, though he stopped moving it quite late -a matter of mere nights ago, possibly? It’s just as well he seems firm, now; it’s too bad he has moved the line so often that any potential benefits arising from his testimony will be that much harder to achieve. I am also under the impression that his personal line also involved whether or not he would have to make statements in public.
So long as everything was in the realm of speculation, did not involve his personally having to testify under oath, he may have thought that prudence was the better part of valor -no sense in seeking some sort of martyrdom. But confronted with a summons he could not ignore, and facing pressure to avoid those summons; and furthermore, realizing that the ultimate response on the part of the administration was not to enable him to permanently avoid those summons, he wouldn’t go as far as perjuring himself, at least not at the point at which he’d personally have to raise his right hand and swear to the veracity of what he would say, before the public.
There are two things about Lozada that will go far, I think, in understanding the distinctions he’s tried to make, and his eventual decision to hold the line once he felt things had gone too far. The first is that he is proud of being a Thomasian, he quotes Thomas Aquinas widely. The second is he is a passionate student of Jose Rizal.
Some snippets from his remarks to people during the hours I was there, to illustrate. Again, these more along the lines of paraphrasing his conversation, as I was taking notes by means of sending text messages to myself.
“Thomas Aquinas said the worst form of corruption is the corruption of the best.”
“We’re a failing state. The obligation of a state is to provide basic services…. Self restraint isn’t there. Checks and balances do not work. Instead, influence peddling moderates the checks and balances.”
“Rizal asked his brother Paciano, did God makes us poor and silent, or we were so misgoverned we ended up that way? Paciano couldn’t answer. Two years later, Rizal wrote to Paciano, and said, in my travels abroad I have the answer: we didn’t get the right kind of government from our leaders.”
“Rizal said there are three requirements for a Just Revolution. First, there must be a great cause, and all peaceful means must be tried to achieve it, and still, all fail; second, prepare for imminent victory, this is why he rejected Bonifacio’s invitation to join the revolution, they’d left too much to chance without thinking of what would happen afterwards; third, we must have an educated population otherwise the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow.And also, you must be prepared to erase every shred of the system you overthrow.”
“We must make it too expensive for someone to screw up the country. Only then will the next person will have second, third, fourth thoughts about trying to mess the country up.”
“If you want to understand my moral compass, there’s this book I read in which this question was tackled: ‘Why is it that billions have walked the earth while only a few have stood the test of time. And yet those few lived at a time when there were many who were more powerful or famous than them?’ When a group of thinkers examined these people, they identified four polarities. First, they had a Transformative Vision, for example, Christ’s concept of love. Second, they had Courage, even if it meant going against the trend. Third, they had a Firm Grasp of Reality. Fourth, they had Unbending Ethics. The four things form a kind of diamond and with all sides present, you have a formidable leader. But if any side is lacking it’s enough to doom any leader. The book is ‘The Philosophy of Greatness.'”
(A note on how one’s recollection of another’s recollection works in a pressure cooker environment: as he was recounting this, a nun in the room asked him the name of the author of the book; he couldn’t recall; eventually, I tracked down this book: “Leadership: The Inner Side of Greatness, A Philosophy for Leaders, New and Revised” (Peter Koestenbaum) which has an Amazon page which boils down what he was trying to say:
Believing that leadership is a “mindset and a pattern of behaviors” that can be learned and taught, Koestenbaum presents and illustrates the meaning of his “Leadership Diamond.” This consists of “four strategies for greatness”: vision (thinking big and new), reality (having no illusions), ethics (providing service), and courage (acting with sustained initiative).
A reader’s review is even more illuminating, I think, in that it presents what Lozada probably thinks he’s tried to do, regardless of whether his peers or the facts bears it out:
Koestenbaum presents his approach in a didactic manner, yet never underestimating his audience, utlizing a model for Leadership values in the form of a four vertex diamond: Vision, at the top, encompassing the ability to think strategically, but also to understand others with different cultures and realities than our own; Courage at the bottom, which surprisingly represents not heroic, one-time achievements but rather sustained initiative, the ability to focus on an objective throughout life; Reality on the left, comprehending the ability to deal with hard facts, but also the understanding of the paradoxical nature of life; and, last but not least, Ethics, which beyond anything represents empathy and stewardship, service to others as the ultimate way of realizing greatness.
I also noticed that his recollection of the events surrounding his decision to testify in public, seem solid enough, in large part because they withstood constant re-telling).
Again: the person with little actual power but some authority, the person of superior intelligence but inferior social or political status, must either accept his condition as a servant or adorn his existence with the trappings of being a kind of philosopher-king in training; servitude is always an unpleasant existence for the person convinced he has a greater mind and a superior virtue to those he serves; it makes for what some would call a messianic complex and others a hero-in-the-making.
Personally, I believe he is motivated by patriotism, and that he subscribes to the notion that he’s reached a point he did not want to arrive at, but the challenges of which he must embrace. But part of the blame, part of the peril he faces, was the making of people like himself, who thought that he could somehow outwit those who may be dull of mind and insatiable in their appetites, but who have the means to hire brains to counter his and wield force which settles any possible debate with finality.
I do think he was treated very badly by a government that failed to recognize every man has his limit and that furthermore, which overestimated its capacity to be the master of events just as it thinks it has found the measure of every man. Because there are times when the threat of brute force, or the even more cunningly applied implications of dire consequences, stiffens instead of weakens a person’s resolve to obey a higher law.
Redemption is something every person should have an opportunity to achieve.
But let us see how he testifies under oath; and how he faces up to the cross-examination by the Senators allied with the administration.
As it is, for now, a new phrase has entered our political lexicon: Moderate their greed’ :Instruction refers to Mike Arroyo, Abalos.
For now, may I refer you to the Inquirer editorial for today, and the analysis of Mon Casiple in his blog:
What happened to JDV showed that the Arroyo family is prepared to ruthlessly discard even a top ally who may dissent from its position. It demonstrated the vulnerability of all friends and allies once they doubt or oppose the ruling family. Further, the JDV ouster can be seen as a major — if not a fatal — blow at the independence of the House of Representatives and the building of a genuine political party system.
What happened to Mr. Lozada was something else. It exposed the readiness of the Arroyo family to use the state instrumentalities — even if violative of laws and human rights — for purely political survival imperatives. Malacañang’s subsequent explanations and “evidences” to support an alleged “voluntary request” by Mr. Lozada for protection pale in the face of Lozada’s own story of forced abduction. The actual events support Lozada’s own version, such as the cloak and dagger operation, the denial by Lozada’s own family of such a request, the subsequent urgent motion for a writ of habeas corpus and writ of amparo before the Supreme Court, the contradictory stories of various government officials identified with the abduction, and the renewed Malacañang attack on the Senate investigation of the ZTE-NBN deal.
The panic, desperation, and tenseness evident in the sloppy decisions and executions in these incidents vie for supremacy with the arrogance, ruthlessness, and power-tripping evident in the mind-processes of the decision-makers.
And from Billie Princesa, niece of Lozada, an appeal for prayers.
Liam:
If 260m is 30% of the whole project, then you don’t add 130m to make 100%. You add 636m. Perhaps Formoso learned his math from COMELEC.
Pirate,
file charges in the courts. give it to the supreme court.
this was the same stand i took when they ousted erap in 2001. you have to let legal action continue and take place. because it is the ONLY form of justice where we can really achieve closure.
if you say SC will be biased, then its clear that you are ignorant on how the SC crafts its decisions.
The circumstances of his abduction (that IS what it was, Ca T)
May inabduct bang nakakagamit ng cell phone at kumakain sa public resto?
Sheesh
Liam:
So why believe Pentangeli if there are no documents?
In any case, NEDA isn’t releasing the documents the Senate has been asking for. Isn’t that suspicious?
“Moderate the greed” – what a nice turn of phrase.
I can’t help imagining a scene of a rampaging pack of hungry lions around you, and there you are in the middle with a puny stick to ward them off.
Mike,
formoso also explained why the additional 130m was not proportional to the 260m earlier presented for the 30%
the 260m includes the construction of data centers, the training of personnel, establishment of a technical and support system and the construction of the necessary infrastructure.
to cover the additional 70% YOU DONT NEED TO BUILD ANOTHER DATA CENTERS AND BUILD ANOTHER SUPPORT STRUCTURE. YOU JUST NEED TO BUILD ADDITIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRAIN ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL.
if you would just listen to what the govt panel said its pretty justifiable. all we need are the said documents.
funny your math logic
Mike
suspicious but certainly actionable
what happened to benefit of the doubt?
….pagdaan daw nila sa south superhighway naalala nya daw si DACER!
di nya ba alam na nakatunganga lang sa kanya ang SUSPECT!
hahahahaha! ano kaya ang facial expression ng DACER KILLING SUSPECT kung pinakita ng ANC yong mamang SUSPECT!
di lang SUSPECT, MASTERMIND pa!
hehehehehe
how i wish i could edit my posts..
“another data centers” << piff my english s*cks
…nakakulong na nga ‘yong isa sa USA, ibang kaso nga lang. GUILTY pa.
Liam Tinio,
of course, by all means the governmnt will have to justify the price of 329 m usd. The contact must appear clean. nowhere in the contract will anybody find provision for overprice so that FG and Abalos get their share of the fill. One can only agree on the circumstances sorounding the deal and the circumstances that LOzada, the unwitting witness had gone through. Only the the hardcore government lackey will try so hard to discredit these hard facts.
Liam:
So what do 30% and 70% refer to? 30% and 70% of what exactly?
na-mention na naman ang DACER ni aquino III….
napressure na pala sya ng kapatid nya na kinausap ni lacson!
i just noticed that there had been a resurrection of pro-GMA forces in the blogging world, not just in this site..
probably using palace computers…
been a blog lurker for years, and it just fascinates me how the orcs resurfaces everytime the dark goddess is in hot water..
or i might be wrong. im just a lowly, innocent student who likes observing blogs.
“The Cat
Ang abduction ay yong kinuha siya nang sapilitan. Eh meron pa siyang travel order na nakuha. Sheesh.”
Eh peke naman yung mga travel order na ginagawa. Wala namang meeting. Itinago siya.
You ask a lawyer what is abduction. It does not necessarily mean you are forced.
What do you think will happen to that Atty. Bautista who told Lozado to sign the affadavit when Lozado told him he had reservations on the accuracy of the statements made. In effect was he letting him commit perjury?
I work in IT management for one of the biggest bank in the world. 130 million for a data center? we just built one in Hong Kong that will cater for transactions of 52 countries, for a third of that money.
Mike
the percentages refers to the COVERAGE
260M USD covers 30% of the country
add 130M USD to cover the remaining 70%
Juancho
i did not say they need the additional 130m USD for
another data center.. as i remember there will be
3 data centers that will be built and this is included
in the 230m USD which will have a coverage of 30%..
the 130m USD is needed to build the infrastructure needed
to cover the remaining 70%
so if you look at the numbers, it will actually be cheaper to cover the remaining 70% since the CORE infrastructure has already been built through the 230m USD
and juancho, the data center will not just be a commercial or financial data center.. it will also be used for telephony, fax, video conferencing.. as well as become a repository of government documents forms and basically the national archives.. and add military intranet as well as the dbm, dof and the bot network backbone.. imagine the dedicated SC and hardware for the logs alone..
im sure your bank, global as it is, cannot compare with the amount and the variety of data that these data centers will process..
If indeed the cost of 329m usd is justified why in the hell the project was shelved. The project will do the country so much good, why not proceed with it.
alas ka dora,
Yeah, why they shelved it if it was aboveboard?
Copied from my mail this pm. I think the humor is up to the time.
Para sa lahat ng PINOYS!
Kung Pinoy si Noah….
…Ganito ang mangyayari sa barko. Read along…
Taong 2007 at isang ordinaryong middle class Pinoy si Noah. Nagpakita sa kanya ang Diyos at sinabing “Pagkatapos ng isang taon ay bubuhos ang
ulan at babahain ang buong kapuluan ng Pilipinas. Gusto kong gumawa ka ng isang malaking
arko at isakay mo rito ang pares-pares na mga hayop at mga mag-asawang pilipino sa iba’t ibang kapuluan.”
Ibinigay kay Noah ang “specs” ng arko at taos puso nitong tinanggap ang responsibilidad na sagipin ang sambayanang Pilipino sa napipintong pagbaha.
Lumipas ang taon, muling nagpakita ang Diyos kay Noah. Walang arkong nagawa si Noah
at galit na galit siyang tinanong ng Diyos,
“Nasaan ang arko na ipinagawa ko sa iyo? “Tumugon si Noah,”Patawarin po ninyo ako kung di po natupad ang utos ninyo! Nagkaroon po ng malaking problema sa plano po ninyo .”
At inilahad ni Noah ang mga sagabal na nakaharap niya sa pag-gawa ng arko.
Humingi siya ng Mayor’s permit pero papayag lang daw si Mayor kung ang gagawa ng arko ay ang construction firm ng kanyang pamangkin. Tumungo siya sa Congressman
pero papayag lang daw si Congressman kung may matatanggap siyang
30% commission. Nagtayo ng unyon ang mga kinuha niyang manggagawa at nag-strike.
Natunugan ng mga left-leaning groups ang kanyang balak at ang mga ito ay nag-rally dahil daw sa hindi makatarungang pagpili ng mga taong sasakay sa arko (mga taong naniniwala lang sa Diyos ang pwedeng sumakay). Nakisali sa rally ang mga bakla at tomboy dahil bias daw na normal na mag-asawa lang ang pwedeng sumakay.
Ang civil society group ay nakisali na rin sa gulo dahil napag-alaman daw nila na ang pondong gagamitin sa paggawa ng arko ay galing sa donasyon ng
mga gambling lords at katas ng hueteng
Sa kaguluhang ito ay napilitang magpatawag ng hearing ang senado “in aid of legislation”.
Sinubukan ni Noah na gamitin ang EO 464 para makaiwas sa hearing pero dahil hindi sya executive official, napilitan siyang tumistigo.
Nang malaman ng senado na utos ng Diyos ang pagpapagawa ng arko, dineklara nila itong unconstitutional dahil hindi raw nito iginalang ang separation ng church at state
.
Nakialam na rin ang NBI at PNP at sinabi nilang meron silang impormasyon na ang barko
raw na ito ay gagamitin ni Erap sa kanyang pagtakas. Sinabi naman ng ISAFP at DOJ na ito raw ay gagamitin ng grupong Magdalo sa binabalak nilang coup laban kay Arroyo. Nilapitan ni Noah si Mike Defensor para makipag-usap kay GMA. Payag daw si GMA na ituloy ang arko kung ipapaskil daw sa arko ang malaking mukha ni Arroyo
na may slogan “Towards a Strong Republic”. “Hindi po ako pumayag kaya hanggang ngayon po ay may TRO ang pag-gawa ng arko.
Sa palagay ko po kailangan ko pa ng 10 taon para matapos ang inyong proyekto”. Ang huling wika ni Noah. Napa-iling ang Diyos at sinabing, “Di ko na kailangang wasakin pa ang bansang ito. Hayaan ko na lang kayong sumira nito.”
Moderate their greed = Wag naman masyadong GANID!
Magtira naman kayo ng para sa taumbayan…
kung palulusitin pa ito ng mga pilipino, mswerte si arroyo
or should i say sinuswerte si arroyo
Pact with the devil! Her soul is mine!
Quote for the day at the Senate investigation of the ZTE deal, afternoon session:
Senator Honasan to witness: So…ikaw ba yung…the explainer doon?
Rodolfo “Jun†Lozada: Sir?… Sir hindi ho, si Manolo Quezon ho yon…
(laughter) (Hi Manolo, just saying hi! – marichu)
Even a lawyer without bell (hindi abogado de campanilla ) will tell you that abduction is holding a person against his person’s will. kaya nga abduction at hindi elopement kung sa babae.
ibig mo sigurong sabihin without the use of force.
Sino itich? Is Lozada a Lacson witness?
Kasi, mga witness ni Lacson puro kuryente lang. Hanggang powerpoint presentation tapos bigla nalang mawawala yung witness. Wa tuloy denouement .
Liam, Mike, the 130 Million USD (that Abalos wanted to ‘protect’) is included in the 262 Million USD that covers the original scope.
The contract price upon signing ended up to be 329 million (which is 67 million USD on top of 262 Million). This portion is what is in question as to whether this amount was added because of additional coverage or as added kickback.
cAt,
Talagang kinidnap si Lozada at may obstruction of justice. Hindi mo get yun? Para kang si Bunye o Apostol (name sounds ironic) na ayaw maniwala.
“telling a lie” is systemic na dito sa ating gobyerno, sobra na talaga! The worse is, it developed into a mafia-style practice and proliferates in all departments. “Telling a lie” is becoming a norm; an accepted and protected norm. Too bad!!!! Bad example to the next generation of leaders.
Arroyo flew to davao to avoid the heat in manila.
An hirap ng katayuan ni Lozada beacause Gloria’s minions will press him for hard evidence to back up his claim of kickback on the deal for Abalos and FG. Pero paano mo lalagyan ng ebidensya ang kickback kahit totoo. At isang punto na lang kung talagang malinis yung kontrata at wala naman palang ebidensya sa kickback bakit kinansela?
@dog,
Tama ka po.
Will Defensor come to you and try to convince you to tell the media that you were not ‘abducted’ if you were not?
😀
And since China is showing off to the world that it’s getting tough on corruption, any way that these ZTE officials can be made to testify? An overprice of $130M is a lot even for a big company. Any ideas?
kung hindi abduction yun, bakit naman inikot ikot pa si Lozada sa laguna,cavite. bakit hindina lang dinala kung saan gusto ni Lozada. Ang lagay b na yun gusto ni Lozada yung rides na yun. kung hndi sila natunugan ng media siguro for cremation na si lozada ngayon malamang. Tapos hindi abduction. Only the die hard malacanang lackey will believe this.
Liam Tinio,
So you think the project is aboveboard and therefore defensible. If you were the President how would you react to this “scandal”?
As for me, if I were the President I would assemble experts who will defend the project, gather all those involved in every step, get all the documents, and challenge all and everyone to a debate. Number for number. Technology for technology.
What did the government do to defend the project: cancel the project, make part of the documents disappear, invoke executive privilege, and so on and so forth. Looks counterintuitive to me, but it’s probably just me and the few among here.
Anyway, if you were the President, and your bastard enemies are insinuating you are a thief, how would you do it?
Ending the Impunity of the Gloria and Jose Pidal!!!
Gloria and Jose Pidal are fond of condemning “destabilizers.” In reality ,the Pidal couple are the biggest destabilizers of the nation as they commit big-time scandals,one after another, with impunity.
* The National Power Corp. (Napocor) -CPK-Kalayaan rehabilitation project.
* The race horse importation fiasco.
* The overpriced Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard exposé.
* Misuse of the fertilizer funds.
* The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. scandals.
* The jueteng scandals.
* The ZTE-NBN scandal .
* The Bribery of Governors and Congressmen in Malacanang.
* The MOTHER of ALL SCANDALS: THE HELLO GARCI Mega Scandal that influenced the last Presidential elections.
* The Extra-Judicial Killings of Activists as reported by the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights.
*The Recent Abduction of ZTE star witness,Jun Lozada
* And many more…
The problem is not incompetence. It’s inhumanity, cruelty and unbelievable greed.
Their two-fold strategy on every scandal that breaks out in the open:
1)Deny,deny,deny to the bitter end!
2)Exhort the public to forget the scandal(“Case is closed”) and “Move on!”
This Pidal Inc. strategy has always worked time and again!
It’s time to end the impunity of Gloria and Jose Pidal.
We must organize effectively while demanding political accountability. That means depriving Gloria and Jose Pidal and their congressional allies of the power they ruthlessly enjoy.
And that means ending their impunity, so that truth has consequences.
equalizer, you must mean, so that lying has consequences.
well, saying the truth also has consequences, if you’re to nitpick. but good consequences. while – well, you know what lying entails…
So…
…after all was said and done, what is the result of today’s marathon?
No facts or evidence submitted; no new legal charges filed.
Increased agitation within the anti-GMA circles…calling once again for a change in leadership. The media fires have been stoked…but has the general public been affected? We’ll see.
Sorry, but for me, I still see today as another TV re-run. A daytime soap opera re-run.
I hate being/sounding so cynical (I’m an optimist, actually), but was today just a big waste of time? Bunch of hot air signifying nothing? Kinda seems like it.
Even the abduction accusation — which I thought would be the admin’s Achilles heel — fell flat. No charges filed…that’s ridiculous.
Bah, Lozada was a flop. He might now even get charged with estafa, malfeasance, corruption, whatever due to his admitted actions while in the employ of the government.
Well, at least it was watchable TV (though I feel guilty about not doing any work today).
Geo,
His self incrimination is not enough for such charges.
Unless he is going to be charged for the sake of charging him; the crimes will have to be proven.
And there could be a lot of “collateral” damage in proving those crimes.
Quoting Nash: “any way that these ZTE officials can be made to testify? An overprice of $130M is a lot even for a big company. Any ideas? ”
…Yeah, good question. We can solicit for more ideas from others. Can we propose to the Chinese government (thru our Senate) to investigate these ZTE officials? I’m no expert in diplomacy & Philippine-China government agreements but I think it’s possible. The testimonies from these key officials will be useful…but I don’t think & it’s unthinkable that the Executive branch will initiate such probe.
One big problem in ferreting for truth is this government’s twisted belief of equating such action to power grabbing… may they be enlightened!!
justice,
You are probably right — Lozada won’t be attacked…as an admin attack might backfire, image-wise (and, as you say, might accidentally ensnare allies).
But Lozada admitted that the company he owns (founded?) went into contracts with the gov controlled corp that he heads. That’s a more solid start than anything presented so far in this ZTE drama.
The truth is: There is a lotta dirty biz in government procurement. That’s for sure. Though it’s not exclusive to the Philippines, we only care about what’s going on here. And it sucks. It rots. It’s killing us. It takes a huge bite out of the economy and the welfare of the people.
Listen to Lozada himself: There is a “permissible” level of corruption in gov purchasing. Look at his role — to mediate it. Look at him do it himself.
There IS a disease. But pretending that this is limited to a particular transaction, office, institution or regime is BS. The probs run much deeper than this.
The hardest thing to swallow is…the solution will take quite a lotta time and effort to take root and succeed. Those who are selling a short-term and sudden turn-around might be selling something that sounds too good to believe.
And you (hopefully) know what that means….
…caveat emptor.
May the force be with you all !!! would anyone of us believe the result of DOJ probe on the ZTE scam? But it seems that will be the way to go. As this point in time the DOJ chief Gonzlez has already a prejudice saying that there is no direct link to FG. Hay buhay,nothing will change unless we stop blogging and make our presence felt by Malacanang boys.. Apostol ,in display of arrogance,said that ” intsik pala siya ,dapat i deport” not knowing that tomorrow ,Their chinese elections benefactors like Sy’s , gokongwei and Lucio Co might react to this. “KILL DARTH VADER”!!!!
“One big problem in ferreting for truth is this government’s twisted belief of equating such action to power grabbing… may they be enlightened!!”
–Dog cornered cat
—————————————————-
The problem is that much of the “ferreting for truth” HAS been power-grabbing moves.
An enlightened public should demand facts and reject BS.
I wish we could push a “re-set” button and start anew today:
From now on, accusers must produce evidence or shut up. The slightest (proven) inappropriate behavior by a public official should trigger heavy, heavy penalties. Media should help us with this…but should suffer extreme penalties for false or misleading stories.
May we be enlightened!
Here’s a tribute to Mr. Lozada…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNfzITqgWoo
This bothers me.
Questioned by Senator Loren Legarda, Lozada says he is privy to the contents of a conversation Neri had with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in which Neri reported Abalos’ attempt to bribe him. Lozada, however, refused to divulge what he knew about the conversation, saying it had been given in confidence to him.
Is his love for country below Neri’s confidence in him?
deviladv8:Truth is painful to the Pidals.
Facts? Evidence? I suppose anything supporting that which questions what you think is true are not. That which you call enlightenment is that which agree with your idea, lest they are not facts–impressions out of the blue.
Care to explain why, it seems to me at least, they’re scrambling, confused, and agitated. I am looking for impression of confidence and strength, like that of a rock, which they say exude from an innocent man.