Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada (right) sits beside former President Corazon Aquino during the “Mass for Truth and Accountability” held at Baclaran Church on February 25, 2008, days after Lozada surfaced as a key witness in the NBN-ZTE broadband scandal. — Photo credit: Handtell via Wikimedia Commons
Jun Lozada, who testified on alleged corruption in the NBN-ZTE deal, reflects after nearly 3 years in prison—on faith, family, and the cost of coming forward.
MANILA — The whistleblower who exposed the alleged corruption behind the canceled $329-million NBN-ZTE broadband deal is speaking out after serving nearly three years in prison for a separate graft case. Now a free man, Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr. says his time behind bars became a period of personal reflection and religious transformation.
“I asked God, ‘Why?’ hundreds of times,” Lozada shared in a recent interview with PhilStar Life. “But eventually, I learned to surrender. I found purpose even in prison.”
A whistleblower’s burden
Lozada rose to national prominence in 2008 when he testified before the Senate about alleged irregularities in the National Broadband Network (NBN) deal between the Philippine government and China’s ZTE Corporation. Then serving as president of the Philippine Forest Corporation and adviser to NEDA Secretary Romulo Neri, Lozada claimed the project’s cost had been inflated to accommodate alleged kickbacks.
His testimony identified high-ranking figures, including then-COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos and...
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