Palace offensive fails
to convince senators
Lozada: I did not ask for protection
BY JP LOPEZ
GOVERNMENT and police officials
yesterday failed to convince senators that ZTE witness
Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. was not abducted as the
lawmakers saw a clear effort by the executive branch to
prevent him from testifying.
Environment Secretary Lito Atienza,
PNP chief Avelino Razon and Alfonso Cusi, general
manager of the Manila International Airport Authority,
said Lozada was not kidnapped to prevent him from
testifying.
Senate President Manny Villar said he
took exception to testimonies of the law enforcement and
airport officials that they were securing Lozada from
possible harm.
His life was in danger,
says airport, PNP officials
BY DENNIS GADIL
AIRPORT and police officials yesterday
maintained NBN-ZTE star witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada was
not abducted, insisting his life was in danger and that he
had to be secured when he arrived last February 5 at the
Ninoy Aquino International Airport from Hong Kong.
Senior Supt. Paul Mascariñas of the
Police Security and Protection Office (PSPO) told the
Senate tri-committee investigating the alleged
irregularities in the broadband deal that he formed a
four-man team to fetch and secure Lozada on orders of
Chief Supt. Romeo Hilomen, PSPO chief.
Mascariñas said he never inquired about
the nature of the threats but these could have come from
several groups including the New People’s Army.
DILI -- Rebel soldiers shot East Timor
President and Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta in the stomach at
his home in Dili on Monday, while Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao
escaped injury in another attack, officials said.
The shootings on East Timor’s two most famous
independence figures, in which a key rebel leader was killed,
prompted analysts to warn the tiny Southeast Asian nation could
suffer renewed violence and political chaos.
Ramos-Horta was in a stable condition
following the assassination attempt, Foreign Minister Zacarias
da Costa said, while in Dili, residents reported the capital
appeared calm.
GOVERNMENT and police officials
yesterday failed to convince senators that ZTE witness
Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. was not abducted as the
lawmakers saw a clear effort by the executive branch to
prevent him from testifying.
