Lozada: Is he, or is not he?

We, Bacolod folk, remained focused on Bacolaodiat. But somehow the confusing and often murky explanations by the PNP on the whereabouts of Philippine Forest Corp. CEO Rodolfo Lozada has befuddled most of us.

The strangest thing is that, although the missing official and his wife, Violeta reportedly met late Wednesday night, the latter still filed with the Supreme Court a writ of habeas corpus yesterday. It asks the high tribunal to order the police to bring him to court and set him free.

Police say that Lozada can be presented to the Senate anytime the chamber needs him. But for the moment, he is under police protection and custody. (Lozada surfaced at the La Salle Greenhills campus and faced the press at 2 a.m. yesterday, behind him a group of nuns and priests).

The question – all the confusion could have been solved by just one swipe of the hand. Allow Lozada to talk before media. Selective, perhaps, because of security concerns. But let him tell the story from himself. Not through the PNP chief Avelino Razon.

Easy, now? yes. But the police seem to have been caught in the tangled web of its explanations. That he had requested police protection prior to his arrival. And was whisked out of the NAIA by police personnel.

But the same Lozada had not informed his family about that request. The brother of Lozada reportedly had requested in writing for security. But the police have yet to present that request before media as well as his brother. And, I understand, that same brother had also filed another amparo case in court to have Lozada produced.

Strange, no?

And how come Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita knows that Lozada is going to submit a new affidavit in contrast to what he had earlier leaked to a Black and White executive director.

Of course, the latter's assertion is dubious. After all, the Black and White Movement is seen as anti-Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. And the claimant also stressed that he did not want to read through the affidavit because he did not want to know their contents.

That virtually discredits the whole story, although it may be true that he had a glimpse of the affidavit and its contents.

Still, the more important thing is the contradictions in the officials versions of the kidnapping story.

In the first place, why the text message from Lozada to his wife where he stated that he had been kidnapped. Later, he reportedly said he was already in Laguna.

The other side of the story. If he and his wife had actually met Wednesday night, how come Violeta did not withdraw her petition for habeas corpus and make the announcement that she was doing it because her husband was in safe hands after all?

Then, you have NAIA security chief Ret. Brig. Gen. Angel Atutubo initially making himself unavailable to media when asked about the kidnapping. Later, he comes out with the version that Lozada was turned over to a certain SPO4 Roger Valeroso. Later PNP chief Razon claimed that they have the name among the PNP list of personnel.

Queer?

Then, NAIA general manager Alfonso Cusi said Atutubo “acted on his sound discretion because it was Mr. Lozada himself that asked for protection.”

And, yes, he promised that NAIA will investigate the manner in which Lozada was taken out of the airport or whether security procedures were violated.

The Lozada incident happened while memories are still fresh among Pinoys about what happened to the late Senator Ninoy Aquino. He was assassinated while getting off a Cathay Pacific plane from Taipei before the horrified gaze of thousands of welcomers.

And, until now, the mystery remains unsolved.

Only in the Philippines can such things happened. And worse, at the place which boasts tight security.

* * *

Bacolod folk have plunged frenziedly into the celebration of BacoLaodiat, the Chinese New Year of the Rat.

But while we think we are the only ones celebrating that affair with gusto, across the Guimaras Strait Iloilo City is also celebrating the Chinese New Year. The festivities are sponsored by the Iloilo Filipino-Chinese Cultural Foundation.

The local celebration was sparked yesterday by a series of the activities capped by the Grand Evening Parade from SM South Terminal and converging at 6th Street . William Ong of 888 Mall must have grinned with the turnout of the crowd. At least, these celebrations have bridged the cultural gap between the Tsinoys and the Filipino, although Negros is one area of the country where we have, to a certain extent, assimilated part of the culture of the Chinese.

It is but right that the center of the celebration is the Capitol Shopping Center . This has now become a sort of a Chinatown of the city. This is what they call the symbol of Chinese-Filipino partnership.*

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