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The man
struggled with his conscience and his conscience won.
“Nakonsyensya siya.”
That’s
the long and short of why Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr.
finally told the truth he had tried so hard to avoid
having to tell.
The man
was not shy about admitting he didn’t want to testify on
the ZTE-NBN deal. He simply wanted out of the whole
sordid mess after Benjamin Abalos threatened to have him
killed. When his name began to surface in the course of
the Senate investigation, he asked the powers that be to
help him avoid a Senate subpoena because he could not
and would not lie under oath.
They
hurriedly sent him to
Hong Kong, to avoid the Senate summons. But they neglected to take
care of him while he was there.
He
called his handlers and told them he wanted to go back
home, still pleading for help to avoid appearing before
the Senate.
That’s
when the powers that be decided to send him to a place
where no earthly subpoena power could ever reach him.
Fortunately, and once again, the press obstructed the
police from doing their job. The police had to surface
Lozada.
But
first, the law enforcers tried to turn a botched
kidnapping into a case of police protection horribly
misunderstood. They coerced Lozada and his sister to
sign fabricated and antedated requests for police
protection.
And then
Mike Defensor urged Lozada to hold a press conference
and lie to the entire nation. That’s when Lozada was
pushed to the limit. That’s when his conscience
triumphed.
The man
could not turn against whatever self-respect he had
left. He could not live in a world of blacked-out
mirrors.
There is
nothing this regime hates more than a reawakened
conscience.
The
entire machinery of the State has been and will continue
to be used against those whose conscience cannot
continue to abide lies, cheating, bribery, plunder and
murder. Gloria Arroyo’s daughter, Luli, admitted it,
albeit unwittingly.
She
said, “Unfortunately, many people don’t understand this,
that the corruption has been built up for at least two
decades, and pervades not only government but society in
general, and it will probably take at least that many
years to wipe it out of our system, especially WHEN
THOSE ENTRENCHED ARE FIGHTING BACK AND FIGHTING DIRTY
NOT TO BE UNSEATED.” (Caps mine.)
The
Hyatt 10 were called traitors because they could not
stomach the lies about the Garci tapes. Jose de Venecia
Jr. wrote a letter to Mrs. Arroyo, asking her to lead a
moral-recovery program, and he paid the price for
bothering the eternal repose of Mrs. Arroyo’s
conscience.
At the
Mass in La Salle Greenhills on Sunday, I saw a classmate
and good friend of Mike Arroyo. I teased him, took his
picture with my cell phone, and told him, “I’m going to
‘MMS’ this photo to your friends Mike and Gloria.” He
replied, “I already waved my middle finger at them when
I passed the security cameras at the gate.”
I saw a
nun from the
Assumption
College,
Gloria Arroyo’s alma mater and bastion of support. My
daughter commented, “Look, dad, there’s a lonely
Assumption nun. Are they breaking ranks?”
I
laughed and texted Manuel Quezon III about the
apparition and he texted back, “She is not alone.”
Everyone
has his limits. I suppose that’s what Gloria’s bishops
meant when they said there is some good in everyone,
including unrepentant liars, bribers, cheaters,
plunderers, kidnappers and murderers.
The
nation has reached its limit. It is now taking the first
tentative steps toward ridding itself of the shame it
has been forced to live with since the Garci tapes first
surfaced. At long last.
Buencamino writes political commentary for Action for
Economic Reforms (www.aer.ph). |
