They have thrown
the kitchen sink

The National Bureau of Investigation focus on the “sins” of Rodolfo Lozada, the ZTE broadband deal whistle blower, is just the initial blast against the credible witness of alleged anomalies involving key government officials.

Expect a lot more to be thrown against Lozada. Yesterday, there was a full-page paid advertisements against Lozada's detailed “lie” and inconsistencies in several Manila dailies. Each page reportedly cost some P100,000. And they were paid for by the Kongreso ng Mamayan Central Luzon-National Capital Region-Southern Tagalog chapters.

I haven't heard of such a “rich” group before. They have surfaced only now that the ZTE deal had been exposed by Lozada. Where did they get their money? Must be very affluent to be able to waste that much amount just to belie Lozada's testimony before the Senate.

But Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita claimed that Lozada is not above the law. Thus, the NBI, too, focused their attention on the whistle blower. That conveniently explained why the NBI prioritized attention on the former Philippine Forest Corp. president.

And the NBI had not even interviewed yet the police officers and the NAIA key officials who were reported to have abducted Lozada when he arrived home last week from Hongkong. And they have not even tried to find out the authenticity of the travel orders (antedated) which Lozada had allegedly been furnished with by DENR Secretary Lito Atienza's office.

Oh, well, even Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez tried to excuse the NBI “raid” by stating that he is pulling them out from it and instructing them to lay off temporarily.

There, you have the glaring example of what happens to anyone who tries to expose government anomalies. He gets it on the neck ahead of those whom he is exposing. And they are supposed to pledge a government clean-up of the corrupt and the grafters.

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On the other hand, the Catholic faithful of the Bacolod Diocese are enjoined to heed the invitation of Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra to join the protest action at the Bacolod Plaza tomorrow. This is in support of the call of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to support the full disclosure of the truth on the ZTE-NBN transaction exposed by Lozada.

The religious protest action, “Mass for Truth”, will also be supported by the Via Crucis, a form of communal action on the deal. The way of the Cross means that the participating faithful and clergy will engaged in introspection and use discernment to contemplate what other forms of action they will have to take against the massive irregularities in the administration.

This could change from passive to a definitely higher form, possibly a multi-sectoral rally. The calibrated response is to support Lozada who, in his quest for the truth on the ZTE-NBN transactions has already been subjected to intensive persecution by government agencies and so-called allies of the administration.

Of course, Bishop Navarra was right. The diocese does not support the ouster of President Arroyo. But if this is demanded by the people then there is nothing the diocesan authorities can do but support it. The Church, to a certain extent, is taking a diametrically opposite action to that of local officials. They, headed by acting Governor Isidro Zayco, stressed their opposition to the resignation call.

In short, we foresee a possible struggle for power when the Church and the LGUs eventually collide, should the outcome be in favor of whom? Very often, politicos dismiss the strong influence of the Church on the population. But money is not the sole answer to the issue of credibility, although very often the public tends to succumb to it.

Well, that remains to be seen. If one were to look at the Church history, how many thousands had suffered martyrdom for the faith? And how many more Christians are being slaughtered every day in the Middle East and elsewhere in defense of the faith and in their search for the truth?

Just look at the former Soviet Union . Now, even Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, had been caught by television several times making the sign of the cross. A testimonial to the triumph of the Cross over the bloody carnage of the past.

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Bacolod folks, like the rest of the country, celebrated Valentine's Day with the usual baggage of material and artistic tribute to love.

I saw flowers being bought up by “lovers' of both sexes. But the more important thing – often husbands were not so starry-eyed as their wives. Me? Since I had no Valentine, I simply celebrated this day with morning prayers and with me going to the office to do things I usually do, which reminded me that my late wife, Dr. Lourdes L. Espina, and I used to celebrate the day by going about our daily chores but observing the celebration by going out at night to one of the nightclubs in Manila .

More important for us, was that we attend the mass and renewed our pledge to stay married to each other.

Love is not measured by external manifestations but by the quality of respect for one another.*

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