Reflections on the Bangsa Moro

The “flavor of the month” Jun Lozada battled all the President’s men for about 3 hours on Prime Time TV last night. The country’s leading TV / radio network ABS-CBN held a Special Coverage titled “HARAPAN” (Face-to-Face): The Jun Lozada Exposé. It was broadcast on VHF (ABS-CBN 2), on cable TV ( ANC), and on radio station DZMM (which is also aired on cable TV).

Arrayed against Lozada were former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chair Benjamin Abalos and his lawyer Sal Panelo; Phil. National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Avelino Razon; Malacanang Palace’s deputy spokesman Dr. Anthony Golez, Dept. of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Undersecretary Formoso, and Emeritus Chair of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce Inc (PCCI) Donald Dee. Also invited were former Budget Secretary Ben Diokno, one nun, one student leader and the Chair of the Makati Business Club Ramon del Rosarion.Korina Sanchez and Ricky Carandang hosted the program.

DONALD DEE

The first salvo was provided by the hosts by asking Lozada about Mr. Donald Dee. Lozada said that Dee asked former NEDA chief Romulo Neri to talk to the President. Dee allegedly told Neri, “Noong walang krisis, may 200 Million (pesos) para sa iyo, ngayon na may krisis pa…” (When there was no crisis, there was 200 million (pesos) for you, now that there is a crisis…)

Donald Dee was incensed. He told Lozada that he would see him in court and that he should be ready to substantiate his claims. Lozada reiterated what he said.

Lozada said something like the country has legal luminaries but no "justice luminaries". His point was that we have laws but no justice.

What if Dee will sue Lozada for defamation of character or even libel, and no one will testify in favor of Lozada. And what if Neri would testify against Lozada, how can Lozada win the case, even presuming that he was truthful? How can the courts determine the truth in such a case? Will they have to rely on the testimony of liars because the testimony of liars is better than no testimony? Proving that somebody lied is certainly not easy.

ABALOS

Abalos again recounted the supposed ‘crimes’ of Lozada which he admitted to in the Senate. Lozada refuted them, especially regarding the insurance issue. Lozada said that the beneficiary of the insurance was not him but the office.

But one thing that Abalos said that struck me was his assertion that if Lozada was deathly afraid of him since January 2007, then why was Lozada still coming to Wack Wack to play golf or eat meals or snacks at least once a month the whole year through.

Lozada answered that his visit to the club became less frequent and only when he is accompanied by Secretary Neri whom he described as his “shield” (pangsangga o panangga).

When asked by the hosts to say what exactly is he accusing Abalos of, Lozada answered with a question. He asked if it is an accusation if he says that Abalos told him “proteksionan mo ang 130 million (dollars).” (protect [my] 130 million [dollars].

Regarding the President’s husband, Lozada repeated what he said in the Senate about Abalos calling Mr. Arroyo. He said that it really struck him how powerful Abalos was because he was able (through Mr. Arroyo) to make the Chinese send an official letter (indicating that there was available financing for NBN) on a SATURDAY, December 2, 2006.

Like a broken record, Abalos kept on harping that Lozada and Joey de Venecia had said that he (Abalos) and De Venecia met only in December 2006 so how could Lozada, whose job was supposedly to reconcile both project proposals, say that they (Lozada and Abalos) had met about the project before December.

Lozada answered again and again that he never said he met with them (de Venecia and Abalos) together before December. He met with them several times separately. He said he was like a ping pong, going from Joey to Abalos and back again.

Like a good debater, Abalos begged the question or turned around Lozada’s statements. He kept on saying that he could not be a broker for ZTE because it was already a “done deal”, i.e., the Chinese had already chosen ZTE as supplier.

Really, either Abalos has a very low IQ or he thinks everyone else has low IQ. There was absolutely no way for him to broker for ZTE to the Chinese government. He is not even Chinese. But as Lozada pointed out, his job was to make the government – Philippine government – approve the project.

RAZON

PNP chief Gen. Razon said, without blinking an eye, that he had always been consistent. He said that they “protected” Lozada as per request of DENR Secretary Atienza.

If it were in the US or in some European countries, the producers would probably show a video footage of him taken during his press con with Atienza in Feb. 5 where he said that the family of Lozada, specifically his sister, requested the PNP for protection. But the Filipino media are more courteous to the guests.

At any rate, Lozada reminded the police general of his presscon with Sec. Atienza.

 
NOT VIP

Lozada said that if he were indeed being protected as a Very Important Person (VIP), then the escorts would have addressed him as “Sir” or Mr. Lozada. But that was not the case. The escorts referred to him as “ito” (this [thing]). (“Saan natin idala ito.?” [Where do we bring this ___”]). He said that it was as if he were a mere piece of sack.

Also, Lozada reiterated that he kept on asking his escorts where they were going but they merely replied, “Relax lang.” (Just relax). And as to his having his cellphone, which the President’s men kept on insisting was a clear proof that Lozada was free to contact anyone, Lozada said that he was asked, in a very stern voice, to turn off his cellphone. The escort told him that they could monitor his cellphone anyway.

Lozada again acknowledged the crucial role of the Media. He said that one escort told another, “Ibalik na natin ito, at mainit na ito sa Media.” (Let’s bring this (thing or person) back, this (thing or person) is very hot in the Media.”

And of course, Lozada asked if he were treated as a VIP, then why did the escorts drove him up to Los Banos when his home is in Pasig.

MANNY GAITE

Deputy Executive Secretary Manny Gaite was implicated further by Lozada. He said that while he was in Hong Kong, he mentioned to Gaite that he wanted to go home already as he had no more money.

It appears that this “Chinese provincial”, as he calls himself, is fond of telling government people that he has no more money. That was what he told former Secretary Mike Defensor when they met at La Salle in the evening of Feb. 5. And like Defensor, Gaite took the bait. He asked Lozada to send someone to pick up half a million pesos.

Lozada, playing his role as a poor Chinese provincial (probinsyanong Intsik), he claimed that he then went on a shopping spree because he wanted to experience the feeling of being rich.

Abalos did not let that pass. Abalos again pointed out that he paid almost half a million pesos (P 425,000) to become a member of Wack Wack golf and country club plus the P200,000.00 annual dues and all the monthly billings. In other words, he may be a Chinese provincial, but he is a RICH Chinese provincial.

I must say, Abalos scored a point there.

PALACE SPOKESMAN

Palace deputy spokesperson Dr. Anthony Golez said that the proper venue for Lozada’s allegations are the courts because in courts, the truth is measured by the preponderance of evidence and not dramatics.

Apparently, the palace people think that at the Senate hearings, evidence is not needed.

ASEC FORMOSO

Asst. (Under?) Secretary Formoso of DOTC was emotionally agitated. He said that Lozada kept on repeating that he (Lozada) was wearing only a T-shirt while his opponents were wearing Barong Tagalog and Western suits. Mr. Formoso, who was in coat and tie, said that he was brought up to understand that one should wear good clothes as a show of respect to other people and never to come out in one’s underwear.

Bravo for Formoso! I totally agree with him. But then, perhaps Lozada, who keeps on referring to himself as a Chinese provincial, thought that he was merely being true to form. After all, wasn’t he wearing a camisa chino?

Formoso charged that Lozada was not officially designated as consultant or member of any evaluating team either in NEDA or CICT. Therefore, his role was very suspicious. As Mr. Abalos said, he could be very well be the”broker” in this deal.

Lozada answered that he presented reports at least three times at the Cabinet yet he was never officially designated as consultant or member of any evaluating team. He asked Formoso to ask the President or the Cabinet why he was allowed to present to them even though he had no official designation.

This, I believe is the crux of the problem. We have such mediocre people in the bureaucracy. People pay billions or trillions of pesos to civil servants yet departments and even the Cabinet have to get people from outside the bureaucracy to tell them what the bureaucrats are paid to do. 

When I was in the bureaucracy, some of my colleagues told me that many people, especially the higher officials, were afraid of me because I would recognize what these people truly were — frauds. My friends said that these people were so afraid that I would expose them as such. I never expose people to ridicule. But I must say, I was truly, truly shocked to learn the very low level of knowledge and expertise in our government agencies and other state-run institutions.

If our Civil Service system only employs people based on MERIT then these things could never happen. The bureaucrats do not have to be “mendicants”, as Lozada puts it.

I remember the time when a Department Secretary in a Cabinet meeting reportedly asked the President at that time what he should do. The President answered that the Secretary was supposed to give him, the President, advice and not vice versa.

Poor President Arroyo, most of her advisers are former military officers. Naturally, she would be given advice from the viewpoint of military minds. I would not be surprised if she will soon declare Martial Law. That would be her downfall.

TV MARATHON REPLAYS

The 3-hour HARAPAN special coverage is scheduled to be replayed twice today to give the ZTE-NBN-Lozada affair as much media mileage as possible.

THE BATTLE OF OLIGARCHS

In the 1980s, the pre-Martial Law oligarchs battled the Marcos oligarch or cronies as they were then called. Today, there seems to be another oligarchy battle going on. Romulo Neri had chosen his oligarchs. Jun Lozada had chosen his. History will judge who made the wiser choice.