CA tells Lozada it’s not kidnapping
By Leila Salaverria
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 16:11:00 09/14/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- The Court of Appeals has dismissed the plea for protection of National Broadband Network deal witness Rodolfo Lozada under the writ of amparo, ruling that he was not kidnapped.
The appellate court, which has been tasked by the Supreme Court to decide on amparo petitions, ruled that he was unable to show that he was under threat by government officials and agents he accused of kidnapping him in February 2008.
The respondents in the case are Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Philippine National Police chief Avelino Razon, airport security chief Angel Atutubo, and Senior Police Officer 4 Roger Valeroso. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was initially named as respondent, but the court later dropped her from the list because she could not be sued.
The court, in a September 12 decision written by Justice Celia Librea Leagogo, said Lozada's right to life, liberty, and security were not violated or even threatened.
It said there was no evidence that Lozada was kidnapped from the airport. It said he knew that the men sent to fetch him were people sent by Environment Secretary Lito Atienza to secure him as they had agreed upon.
He also failed to show that the alleged armed men passing outside La Salle Greenhills and in places he visited were ordered by the government officials to spy on him.
"It bears stressing that the instant amparo petition does not involve extralegal killings, enforced disappearances, or threats thereof. This Court also takes note that Lozada even attended an inter-faith rally in Makati and has been on campus tours, not only in Metro Manila but also in other parts of the country," it said.
Lozada testified in a Senate inquiry later that government officials facilitated his trip to Hong Kong so he could evade testifying about bribes changing hands and overpricing in the government’s $329-million NBN deal with China’s ZTE Corp.
He said that when he returned to the Philippines in early February 2008, he was fetched at the airport by government agents without his consent, told to stop contacting his family, taken for a long ride in Cavite and Laguna, and asked to sign an affidavit, which stated that he knew of no irregularities in the broadband deal.
Lozada claimed that he realized then that he could be rubbed out. He said that government agents only agreed to drop him off at the De La Salle brothers’ dormitory in Greenhills due to protests aired by his family through the media, who were shocked at his sudden disappearance from the airport.
^^^
If that is the case, he was then kidnapped by the people around him and no other than the nuns! hehe
Jun Lozada, not kidnapped after all -CA
Originally Posted by digitalsuperman
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