Kudos to Leonardia
for award recall

It's been a long time I have not praised City Mayor Bing Leonardia for his actions. But this time, he deserves kudos for ordering the recall of the award given to a Manila-based supplier for the brand new dump trucks and ordering an in-depth investigation into the deal.

City Legal Officer Allan Zamora was tasked by Leonardia to investigate that the transaction involved a standard operating procedure (SOP).

This usually is interpreted as exchange of money for a bid to succeed. In short, bribe.

Now, Leonardia's action makes him better than some top government officials who close their eyes to talk about gargantuan overprices as in the ZTE-NBN broadband deal.

In fairness to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, she had the ZTE deal cancelled, going out of her way to see the President of the People's Republic of China to explain that the outcry could harm the deal.

The more important thing is that the local population, especially radio/TV broadcaster Franklin Villanueva had taken to heart the CBCP calls for communal action in response to the growing scandal of graft and corruption in government deals.

But I recently developed some queasy feelings about Rodolfo Lozada of his courage in telling all that he knows about the ZTE-NBN deal, it is gradually becoming apparent that he seems to have been lured into the opposition fold. He is basking in a new-found glory as the “Probinsyanong Intsik” lionized by the high and the mighty as well as by religious people.

Undoubtedly, what has contributed to his “heroic image” is the inconsistencies in the versions about alleged “kidnapping” Lozada among police and palace sub-alterns.

We, Filipinos, are fond of telenovelas. And what seems apparent here is that we are presented a long-running version of one.

What bothered me was the report that Lozada had been in contact with Senator Panfilo Lacson and Sen. Jamby Madrigal way back in November. That was long before he finally made up his mind to testify before the Senate on what he knew about the ZTE-NBN broadband deal.

Then he goes to Hong Kong, fully aware that he was never destined to reach London as he had reportedly intended to. And, of course, DENR Secretary Lito Atienza provided him the documentary cover for that trip.

The fact that Deputy Undersecretary Gaite sent him through his brother a cash allowance of P500,000 simply mean that he must have agreed to withhold his appearance in the Senate.

The question – how come it was only the other day that he turned over to the Senate the P500,000 cash aid? Not immediately upon his first appearance at the Senate Blue Ribbon committee hearing?

Of course Lozada had come up with a blockbuster revelations. But these are mostly hearsay. And worse, in the case of the meeting by CHED Secretary Romulo Neri and the two senators where Lozada was presented, Neri reportedly called President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as “evil”.

It is apparent that he spilled the beans on his “idol” only upon the prodding of Lacson despite the two senators having assured Neri that the meeting never took place.

Something is really wrong with the ongoing scenario. It is good for thought for jaded journalist who must remain skeptical about what appears on television and the unfolding scenario.

Undoubtedly, Lozada deserves praise for his courage in baring his soul to the Filipino audience. But the more he talks, the more he reveals, it seems that the thing has been collaborated by an unseen hands.

I'm not saying that there is also proof of that. But some inconsistencies have gradually emerged from the Senate hearing. And perhaps, Lozada is being built up to be the hero that will bring GMA down. Not necessarily soon, but possibly as possible battering ram in the 2010 presidential elections.

That's all for the moment, just food for thought for a veteran journalist.

* * *

It is good that Victor Sumulong, spokesman of the RPA ABB admitted that the gunslaying of labor arbiter Phibun Pura by Edgar Nicor, alias Ka Joshua, had not been sanctioned by the group.

Nicor is reportedly an intelligence officer of the RPA-ABB but must have acted on his own in the killing of Pura.

It may comfort Kenneth Tirthdas, Pura's brother-in-law, to have heard Sumulong assure that the group do not blame him for his action in shooting down Nicor.

Incidentally, I heard from the grapevine that Tirthdas is a member of the Negros Gun Club. Thus, he understandably managed to hit Pura who was fleeing from the scene of the gunplay after turning over Pura and shooting him in the left eye.

Now, the police must run after the two companions of Nicor. They must possibly be henchmen of Nicor and must made accountable for the murder of Pura.

That, of course the RPA-ABB must be able to do faster than the police.*

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