What makes Jun Lozada an Outstanding Manilan?

For the 438th founding anniversary of the City of Manila, the city chose eight people to receive the Outstanding Manilan award for 2009. Going over the list of awardees, I noticed that it was a strange mix. Strange on account of one person in the list.

The awardees are former president Cory Aquino, broadcaster Mike Enriquez, Dr. Teresita Uytiepo Quirino, taipan Henry Sy, Marixi Prieto, Senator Manny Villar, tycoon Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, and Jun Lozada.

I have no problem with the first seven in the list. But Jun Lozada? Jun Lozada, the so-called NBN-ZTE deal whistleblower? Just what has Lozada done aside from whistleblowing that makes him deserve the award as Outstanding Manilan.

Look, nobody is perfect. I am pretty sure that if we check the lives of the other seven in the list, as I am sure the awards committee must have, we will likely find some blemishes. But I am just as equally sure that those blemishes will not stand in the way of their goodness.

I mean, all things being equal, I am pretty certain that the great things the other seven awardees have done for themselves and for others will far outweigh whatever shortcomings they most surely must have, hence making them truly deserving of the award.

But Jun Lozada? What has he done other than whistleblowing that makes him deserve the award. In fact, wasn’t he himself as much a part of the controversial deal before he decided to jump willingly into the arms of you-know-who.

Even the whistleblowing of Lozada is suspect because it did not come from a conscious desire to do good. He did it at the behest of others who have a political agenda so clear it does not need any elaboration here.

Lozada is just being used by political forces as a battering ram against the present administration. Not that the present administration does not need any battering. In fact it fully deserves what it is getting.

But that is not the point. We can batter the present administration without having to idolize or make heroes out of heels. If we have to batter the administration, let us do it by ourselves, not through the spit of a chamelion.

Jun Lozada, rather than make Manilans proud, should cause embarrassment to that great city. Whistleblowing by itself is not evidence of strength of character. Indeed, whistleblowing almost always calls attention to an irreparable personality flaw.

Most whistleblowers are traitors, forced to rat after deals go sour and they fail to get what they want. And while the result of whistleblowing may do some good for everyone, it does not necessarily cleanse and edify the whistleblower.

One would have thought it was enough irony to find Jun Lozada mothered by nuns who keep silent about sex abuses and financial scandals within the Church but find quick cause to take to the streets in protest over political issues.

But to make Jun Lozada an Outstanding Manilan awardee along with such an illustrious company should make all objective and right-thinking Filipinos, not just Manilans, squirm and want to puke.

What have the people of Manila and the Philippines done to deserve Jun Lozada? Again, let me say that Jun Lozada has value only as a political tool. But when the tides of political fortunes shift, he will be as worthless as the reason why they named him outstanding.