Whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr., IT expert and former president and CEO of the state-owned Philippine Forest Corp. (PFC), has no regrets.
The star witness in the inquiry into the controversial national broadband network (NBN) agreement between the Arroyo administration and China’s ZTE Corp. in 2007 said he was not sorry for “siding with the truth” even as the Supreme Court affirmed his and his brother Orlando’s graft conviction for a land deal involving the PFC.
“My enemies made good with their threats that they will make me regret telling the truth,” Lozada said in a statement addressed to his family and friends and informing them “with sadness” that the high court had denied his appeal.
“Yes, they succeeded in sending me to prison. But they will not succeed in making me regret my decision to side with the truth and the people. Hindi ko pinagsisisihan ang ginawa kong pagpanig sa katotohanan,” he said.
He asked his family and friends to “accompany me with your prayers,” and thanked them for their support.
It was Lozada who blew the whistle on the supposed cost-padding and bribery involved in the NBN-ZTE deal, which was to have resulted in a telecommunications network linking government offices nationwide.
His testimony at a Senate inquiry in 2008, in which he tagged then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her husband as the “masterminds behind the NBN-ZTE crime,” led to the cancellation of the deal.
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