CA: All but red carpet
rolled out for Lozada
Dismisses petition for writ of amparo

BY EVANGELINE DE VERA

IT was all sweetness and light from the moment he stepped off the Cathay Pacific plane that brought him to Manila last February.

In fact, Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada, according to the Court of Appeals, should have no beef against the people who took him at the airport, gave him a five-hour tour of Metro Manila, and finally let him go when the going got hot.

In fact, the court said, but for that bishop, Lozada would never have testified at the Senate.

All these surfaced in a CA denial of the petitions for the writ of amparo filed by the brother and the wife of Lozada, NBN-ZTE star witness, in relation to his abduction at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last Feb. 5 upon his arrival from Hong Kong.

Associate Justice Celia Librea-Leagogo of the CA's Former 17th Division said Lozada's wife Violeta and his brother Arturo, failed to prove that Jun was taken against his will or that his constitutional rights had been violated.

Lozada had alleged he was forcibly taken by police in collusion with airport authorities to prevent him from testifying in the Senate's NBN-ZTE inquiry.

The court said Lozada voluntarily went with his security escorts headed by Brig. Gen. (ret.) Angel Atutubo, NAIA assistant general manager for security, and SPO4 Roger Valeroso, an agent of the PNP-Aviation Security Group.

The court added Lozada was determined not to testify on the broadband scandal when he arrived Feb. 5 but changed his mind on Feb. 6 at 11 p.m. after talking with Bishop Broderick Pabillo of Manila who came to see him at the De La Salle Greenhills brothers' house.

The court said it was Lozada who requested Environment Secretary Joselito Atienza for security escorts to evade possible arrest by Senate security personnel, knowing fully well that the Senate had issued an arrest warrant for his non-appearance at the NBN-ZTE hearing.

In fact, the court said, Lozada even allowed his escort to remain in the vicinity of De La Salle until Feb. 7, before he held a press conference detailing his knowledge about the NBN-ZTE scandal.

"This Court does not find any evidence on record that Rodolfo struggled or made an outcry for help when he was allegedly 'grabbed' or 'abducted' at the airport. Rodolfo even testified that nobody held him, and they were not hostile to him nor shouted at him."

The court said the supposed announcement of respondent PNP chief Avelino Razon over the radio that Lozada was in the custody of the PNP could not be construed as a threat to his life, liberty and security.

It also branded as "purely speculative" Lozada's claim that respondents could have been the ones who sent him threats through text messages.

The court also did not give credence to the claim of Lozada that he was threatened by the presence of several motorcycle-riding men passing outside the De La Salle premises where he and his family are staying and by alleged threats of armed men around him at places where he went to, or the fact that video cameras were installed outside the school premises were meant to monitor his movements.

Even the filing of several criminal cases - graft charges, malversation and theft - against Lozada, according to the CA, cannot be considered as a threat to his life and liberty by the respondents as these cases are beyond the realm of the instant amparo petition filed against the respondents.

Named respondents in the amparo petitions were President Arroyo as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Razon, Atutubo, and Valeroso.