BY EVANGELINE DE VERA

ZTE whistleblower Jose de Venecia III yesterday sought protection from the Supreme Court to stop the military and police from harassing him.

In a 17-page petition for writ of habeas data, De Venecia also asked the high court to enjoin Armed Forces chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., the Intelligence Service of the AFP, PNP chief Avelino Razon and other persons acting on their behalf, from conducting surveillance activities against him and other personalities involved in the anomalous NBN-ZTE broadband deal.

De Venecia also asked the Court to enjoin the respondents to produce all materials, including recordings and transcriptions in their possession obtained through wiretapping activities on petitioner's private communications, and stop them from sending his wiretapped conversations over the YouTube, an online video and audio sharing forum.

He also included former Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile as respondents.

De Venecia filed the petition following the airing over YouTube of his alleged conversation with Abalos, ZTE star witness Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada, and his former colleagues at the Amsterdam Holdings Inc. He said that last month, he got information that a recording of a supposed wiretapped conversation of himself and Lozada was uploaded in the YouTube website.

De Venecia said that he then recalled the threat made against him by Abalos, who threatened to have his telephones wiretapped.

He said the issue of his phones being wiretapped surfaced anew at the Senate hearing on the ZTE deal last March 11 during the course of the questioning of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who mentioned the YouTube blurb.

In that same hearing, De Venecia said Enrile questioned him about several telephone conversations he had made with other persons. Thereafter, Enrile allegedly threatened to broadcast the supposed recorded conversations.

According to De Venecia, such acts constitute violations of R.A. 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping Act.