Former aide, Erwin Santos: Lozada favored kin in gov’t contracts

[chua_riwap]

Kanya-kanya na silang batuhan ng paratang. Kanya-kanyang siraan ng credibility. This might be true, pero sige lang.......let's see kung sino'ng mas papanigan ng tao.



By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:04:00 02/21/2008

Former Aide: Lozada Favored Kin in Gov’t Contracts

MANILA, Philippines -- A former aide to Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. in a tearful plea on national television Thursday said the broadband deal whistleblower should be made to answer for alleged irregularities when he was head of state-owned Philippine Forests Corp.

"Katotohanan lang ang sinasabi ko… Maging handa siya sa mga consequences [I'm just telling the truth… He should be ready to face the consequences," PhilForest President Erwin Santos said of his former boss.

Santos broke into tears when he made the appeal before state-run NBN television. “Boses" anchor Mario Garcia, at one point, tried to calm him down, by tapping him on the shoulder then saying, "You are a hero."

In an off air conversation, Garcia said that according to Santos, Lozada favored his relatives when bidding out PhilForest contracts.

"I did not expect that it would come to this. This is the truth. Let's look at all the angles," Santos said.

"This is for the country," he said, adding that he was taught by Franciscans as a child not to lie.

Lozada, former president of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Philforest, has testified before a Senate inquiry that former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. and First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo tried to get kickbacks from the telecoms deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp.

But environment Secretary Joselito Atienza on Friday urged the people to be more discerning and not to immediately hail Lozada as a "hero," saying that while "he preaches good governance he was not doing it in his own agency.”

“He preaches fighting corruption but obviously PhilForest under him had a lot of shenanigans going on," Atienza said.

He said Lozada apparently "mishandled" the distribution of land to be forested by giving several hectares to his family.

"My undersecretary for forestry, Manuel Gerochi (undersecretary for bureaus and attached agencies), told me he was supposed to be given access to about three million hectares and the DENR stopped it at 300,000. Rather than entrust him with that, DENR handled it. At that time I couldn't understand what it connoted," he said.

The huge tracts of land were supposed to be for jatropha plantations, but he claimed Lozada gave 50 hectares "to a company ostensibly belonging to him, and five hectares each to his family members."

These allegations, he added, have already been raised by Senator Miriam Santiago during the Senate investigation and were backed by documents

[oliver1013]

Sana naman iniba nila yung style, yung pag iyak ni Lozada dahil ata sa matinding pagsasamahan nila ni Neri at dahil sa threat sa kanyang pamilya at buhay niya.. Etong bago naiyak dahil sa pabor ni Lozada sa pamilya niya sa mga kontrata?? Anong nakaka iyak dun? Kinidnap ba siya ng mga tauhan ni Lozada??

[Isuzoom]

lumalapot ang telenovela ...iyakan na

[laklak]

Kaya ako naniniwala sa Bible saying na "Let He Who Is Without Sin Cast the First Stone"

[Isuzoom]

they are all going to hell...

[Bogeyman]

I knew Erwin for a short period way back in college, when he was our candidate for the vice-chairmanship of the University Student Council. I had the impression that he was a level-headed, intelligent and rational guy, cool pa rin ang ulo kahit tinitira na ng kalabang partido.

Kelan ko lang siya uli nakita sa TV, tumatanda na ang itsura. Now it seems he's already well-versed in speaking like a bureaucrat. He could have made his point without mimicking Lozada's teary-eyed statements.

[jmj74]

they are all going to hell...

dear folks,

its simply Thieves vs Thieves !

[fourtheboys96]

dear folks,

its simply Thieves vs Thieves !

oo nga.

question:

kung ang anomalya ni lozada ay pang PBL o PBA lang (by his own admission) as compared sa allegedly mga anomalya nina abalos et. al., and him being a whistle blower, ibig sabihin ba ay babalewalain natin yung mga anomalya niya?

can the senate being a legislative body, give him immunity from any suit judicial in nature?

[jeffrocks]

oo nga.

question:

kung ang anomalya ni lozada ay pang PBL o PBA lang (by his own admission) as compared sa allegedly mga anomalya nina abalos et. al., and him being a whistle blower, ibig sabihin ba ay babalewalain natin yung mga anomalya niya?

can the senate being a legislative body, give him immunity from any suit judicial in nature?

sa ngayon pards,may immunity blanket sya ng mga senators pero watch out later lalo na kapag ala na naman itong patutunguhan...ibabasura na sya nang kanyang mga handlers,like mauanay et al ...kaya nga nag-fund raising sila for a mercenary-witness like him

[jedi]

mas malalala pa nga si chavit eh... nung tumestigo sya laban kay erap