AFTER WIRETAP, A “CRYING” WITNESS

Erwin Santos, Officer in Charge of Phil. Forest Corporation appeared before a government controlled station and spill the beans on the alleged corrupt ways of NBN ZTE star witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, the former President of the said bureau. Teary eyed, Santos said he came out “to reveal the truth.”

“I told him a long time ago that we had to be careful with our procurement procedure. (We had been saying) these should be clear.”

Santos also accused Lozada of had distributed government lands to his siblings Arturo and Clavel and other relatives, as well as to him.

“Sir Jun, I care for you, but before you can be a good leader, let’s face the consequences. I know we did something wrong. I’m equally liable … We have to be liable for what we did, “I have evidence. They are intact.”

He also has an appeal to politicians who are using Jun Lozada

“I hope they will understand that I did this of my own volition. I hope you should stop using Sir Jun. He has a pure heart. His family is affected. I hope we should leave Sir Jun alone.”

Jun Lozada for his part quickly retorted Santos. Lozada admitted to leasing government lands to three of his siblings and to relatives of Philforest employees, including Santos’ sibling.

The transactions, he noted, were all aboveboard and were approved by the executive board.

“The government has no money so they came out with a policy to make the lands productive. This is open to the public. Even Erwin’s brother wanted land. All employees were allowed to lease. It was approved by the board.”

Lozada said.

Under the program, a family can bid for idle lands identified by Philforest. Only 10 percent of the land should be used for infrastructure. The rest should be used for farming or cultivating productive crops.

He said he “expected” the allegations from Santos, whom he described as his “super alalay” (aide) at Philforest.

Lozada said Santos’ colleagues in Philforest were “disappointed” with him (Santos) and were thinking of calling it quits.

“I’m sad that he’s being used against me,” he said, adding that his enemies were doing everything to discredit him.

These moves are expected. The government cannot allow Jun to do damage and just look and wait. It has to fight back. Days ago, a YOUTUBE video featured two pigs talking with the wiretapped conversation of Joey de Venecia and Jun Lozada.

This time, its Lozada’s colleague at Phil Forest.

While others are miffed at the attempts to the discredit Jun, I find these maneuvers very comical. Just look how they try to mock Jun by presenting a copycat who cries and tell the public his concern for a friend, like the way Jun express his concern for Romulo Neri. In the Youtube video, the cussing “PI” are more like an expression rather than cursing. It did not in anyway diminish the credibility of Jun especially with respect to his testimonies.

These moves though admittedly disappointing, failed to achieve its main purpose. Its too little, too late. Its becoming entertaining instead.