Lozada: I've been kidnapped

MANILA, Philippines – A key witness in the aborted national broadband network (NBN) deal was snatched by a group of armed men at the tarmac of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 after returning from a trip abroad.

A team from the Senate who were about to serve the arrest warrant on Philippine Forest Corp. chief executive officer Rodolfo Lozada Jr. to appear for the congressional inquiry on the aborted NBN deal had to chase the vehicle to the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City where the environment official had been taken.

Arthur Lozada said his brother sent a text message asking him to announce through the media that the  witness had been kidnapped and taken “out of town.”

“I was kidnapped,” the text message said.

Lozada had informed his family and friends of the death threats he has been receiving after being subpoenaed to the Senate hearing on the NBN deal.

Arthur told Sen. Benigno Aquino III who led the Senate team tasked to serve the warrant that this was the last text he got from his brother.

“He said they were already at C-5 (Road) and he did not know where they were going,” Arthur said.

Lozada, through his family and friends, had contacted the Senate about his arrival from Hong Kong, where he had been staying since he left on Jan. 30.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Malacañang said Lozada had to proceed to London from Hong Kong to attend a conference on alternative fuels.

Sources, however, said Lozada was just given travel     authority by the Palace to leave the country on Jan. 30, the day the Senate resumed the hearings on the NBN controversy.

However, Lozada could no longer be contacted by his family and friends upon his arrival yesterday and was able to make only two phone calls – one to a priest and a relative to say that a certain “General Atutubo” was the one who welcomed him at the airport.

Lozada apparently did not pass through immigration, leaving media people and the Senate team awaiting his arrival wondering where he was.

Lozada’s sister Carmen expressed her worries on the fate of her brother.

“Where is Jun? What are they doing to him?” Carmen asked.

Carmen said they wanted her brother to be in the custody of the Senate because he felt safer there.

Carmen noted her brother referred to General Atutubo in one of the last text messages they received from him.

“Who is he (referring to General Atutubo)? We thought Jun would be taken to the Senate,” she said. 

Atutubo claims Lozada not kidnapped

Manila International Airport Authority Assistant General Manager for Security and Emergency Services  Retired General Angel Atutubo admitted last night he escorted Lozada from the arrival area but denied he took custody of him.

Atutubo, a former aide of President Arroyo, said Senior Police Officer 4 Roger Valeroso of the Philippine National Police fetched Lozada after securing an airport pass.   

“Why would I get him? He does not even know me, it was Valeroso who knew him. Valeroso even got his hand carried luggage and they talked. I just watched them. The only thing I will admit is that I was there when he arrived,” Atutubo told The STAR over the phone.

“That is why I am wondering why they are saying he was kidnapped. They know each other,” Atutubo said referring to Lozada and Valeroso.

Atutubo said the Senate sergeant-at-arms team was allowed to get in but was quite late because the plane had almost touched down when they came.

He claimed this should belie reports that Presidential Security Group officers were the ones who took Lozada.

“They have a car and Lozada went with them. After that, I don’t know where they proceeded,” Atutubo said.

Atutubo said they allowed Valeroso to fetch Lozada since he (Valeroso) is a police officer. This was despite the arrest warrant issued by the Senate which needed to be served on Lozada.

MIAA general manager Alfonso Cusi said the Senate should have coordinated earlier with airport authorities about Lozada’s arrival, seeing “how important he is to them.”

Cusi said he ordered an investigation into the matter to determine what really happened. He claimed he learned about Lozada’s arrival only from the media, despite the fact that the MIAA media affairs bureau had earlier in the day announced to media that Lozada was arriving in the afternoon on Cathay Pacific flight 919.

“I was told that somebody picked him up,” Cusi said.

He said he even let the airport media cover the arrival because it was standard practice when someone important or newsworthy would be arriving.

Asked if it was within procedure to allow non-airport personnel, like Valeroso, to get a passenger right from planeside or from the arrival tube, Cusi said it would depend on coordination made with authorities. 

The Senate team proceeded to the airport at around 4 p.m. as Lozada was to scheduled to arrive 40 minutes later.

But the Senate team was not allowed to get past the customs and immigration line by airport authorities despite the arrest warrant.

Passengers and the flight crew said they saw Lozada being escorted out of the tarmac and taken into a vehicle.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who had been convincing Lozada to testify, said he did not have anymore contact with the environment official and said he is now concerned about the family.

Lozada earlier said he would submit to the authority of  the Senate and was willing to be arrested.

Lozada said he did not want to be fetched by politicians so his testimony would not be suspect and given any political color.

Sources disclosed Lozada wanted the media to accompany him to the Senate from the airport.

Upon learning of the disappearance of their key witness, Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. demanded a full accounting and details of Lozada’s arrival from airport authorities.

Villar noted the Senate team was not allowed to enter the airport premises to enforce the arrest warrant.  

“They (immigration and airport authorities) must produce Lozada. We will not stop until we are able ensure the safety of Lozada,” he said.

“It is very obvious that he wants to testify because the family is turning to us and counting on us to help Lozada,” Villar added.

“What is disturbing is that they did not even allow the Senate people to come in and then all of a sudden, Lozada was missing. They will have to account for this, we will investigate,” he said.

Villar stressed the airport and immigration officials would be summoned and made to explain the disappearance of Lozada.

Villar disclosed Lozada’s wife Violeta called him up and pleaded for help. He said Lozada  and his family should have made arrangements with the Senate as regards his arrival so his safety could have been assured.

Villar said it was obvious that some people would go to the extent of kidnapping Lozada to prevent him from spilling the beans.

While they could not directly tag Malacañang as the one behind the snatch, Villar and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano said there is a public perception that those in power are involved.

Lozada is said to be ready to tell all about the NBN deal that would implicate First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, resigned Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos and other administration officials involved in the allegedly overpriced project.

The problem, however, is that the Senate cannot order the police, military and the National Bureau of Investigation to track down those who grabbed Lozada because they are under the executive branch.

“The  Senate sergeant-at-arms will continue to search for him. I think he wants to talk before the Senate that’s why he went home. The fact alone that they want the Senate to have custody shows that,” Villar said.        

Status quo

The Supreme Court (SC), on the other hand, has issued a status quo order against the warrant of arrest slapped by the Senate on Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman Romulo Neri.

The high court also directed the Senate to submit within 10 days its comments over the petition of Neri questioning the arrest order on him to appear and testify before a congressional probe on the NBN deal. 

“This means that Secretary Neri will not be arrested until this (status quo) order is lifted. We are not ignoring the arrest order. The Court is just saying that he should not be arrested until the case has been heard,” Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez explained.

Malacañang said the SC order saved Neri from a “grave injustice.”

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said “the timely action of the Supreme Court preempted what could have been a grave injustice to Secretary Neri.”

“We have always maintained that Secretary Neri has already exhaustively testified on a project that has long been cancelled,” Bunye said.

“There was no point subjecting him to further inquisition by the Senate committee,” he said.

Deputy Presidential Spokeswoman Lorelei Fajardo said the SC decision “speaks well of the ... earlier (SC) decision on matters covering executive privilege.”

“We trust that the Senate will heed the earlier ruling of the SC on executive privilege,” she said.

Neri, for his part, was cautious in expressing relief and over the SC order.

A few minutes after learning of the SC order, Neri said he is hoping to secure a copy of the “formal order.”

“Well, I’m hoping to see the formal order. But I guess it’s true,” he said

Neri said the arrest warrant poised on him by the Senate hindered his work as CHED chairman.

“I really have to do my work. A national education summit  was just held last Thursday and Friday. I was very eager to find out the results. It was very successful. We have to implement the recommendations,” Neri said.

Neri filed a seven-page petition questioning the arrest order on him by the Senate Blue Ribbon and the other committees over his failure to appear before the inquiry.

Neri said the Senate committees committed grave abuse of discretion for ordering his arrest for his failure to appear during the scheduled hearings on September 18, 20, October 25 and November 20 last year.

Neri, through lawyer Antonio Bautista, said he had already invoked executive privilege before the Senate for his non-appearance on the scheduled hearings.

He said that during those dates, he was always out of town and was on “the order of the President” to invoke executive privilege.

Neri claimed he compensated for his absences by testifying on the September 26 hearing.

Neri stressed the order for his arrest by the Senate would be a disrespect of the functions of the three separate branches of the government.

“Quite clearly, respondent (Senate) committees would lord it over two co-equal branches of government, to wit, the President and the Supreme Court,” he said.

On January 30, the joint Senate committees ordered Neri arrested for repeatedly snubbing the summons on him to appear before the panel to testify on his knowledge over the ZTE deal.

Neri was among the principal players in the approval of the contract being the chairman of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

On the same day that the Senate issued the arrest warrant, Neri wrote to Villar to reconsider their decisions, citing the pendency of his petition before the SC.

Villar, for his part, said the Senate will comply with the SC order to submit its comment on Neri’s petition.

“We respect the Supreme Court order. At least, we will be able to know the extent of the powers of the Senate to issue arrest orders and the executive branch, for its part, on when they should comply with the Senate,” he said.

Even as the arrest warrant cannot be carried out, Villar said the SC order does not mean Neri is off the hook.

“This is not a disposition on the issue. The order is simply issued to give the Court the leeway to hear the arguments. They cannot claim victory since the SC has yet to finally decide on the issue,” Villar said.

Villar directed the Senate legal department to prepare its comment in reply to the SC order.

The SC has scheduled the oral arguments on Neri’s petition on March 4.

Villar added the Senate has also prepared the arrest order on Lozada in noting that the environment official has returned from a trip abroad.

For her part, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said the status quo order would clarify the extent of powers of the legislative branch to issue warrants of arrest on members of the executive branch.

“A line has to be drawn. How far and extensive are the powers of the Senate in an inquiry in aid of legislation?,” Santiago said.

“I have warned my colleagues many times, but I guess that they failed to pay notice that there is no inherent power to issue arrest warrants from the legislative branch,” Santiago said.

She said the power to arrest belongs to the judiciary branch.

“Our Constitution (also) allows the legislature to issue a warrant of arrest instead of passing through a court of justice. (But) it should never be abused,” Santiago said.

Santiago pointed out the need for the Senate to observe interdepartmental courtesy, which should have dictated that the Senate which should have simply suspended its hearings pending the resolution by the SC. -With Mike Frialde, Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez, Rainier Allan Ronda