Mr. Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada is neither a powerful politician nor a relative of one. He admits to having no political pedigree whatsoever. He is neither rich or powerful, influential or well connected. And yet when he speaks, the President’s men tremble.

Indeed, what does Jun Lozada have that makes a “probinsyanong Intsik” like him the most dangerous man alive as far as the Arroyo government is concerned?

The truth.

In case you haven’t read or watched the news recently, or browsed your email or the internet, Jun Lozada is the latest witness in the saga that is the Senate investigation into the $US329 Million National Broadband Network (NBN) contract.

This is a project supposedly aimed at establishing a high tech, internet-based information and communications backbone for the Philippine government. It was supposed to have been funded by a 30-year loan from China and built by China’s ZTE Corporation.

Like many government projects, the NBN project started out as a good idea. No doubt, a broadband network is a very valuable and strategic facility necessary for any modern government to be effective.

But then, greed took over.

Two powerful groups were lobbying for the juicy project. One was led by Joey de Venecia III, son of House Speaker Jose de Venecia, the 4th highest official of the land. Joey gave an unsolicited bid of $246 million to build the NBN, run it for 25 years, then transfer ownership to the government.

The other group was that of COMELEC Commissioner Benjamin Abalos, whose backer was SAID TO BE no less than the First Gentleman, Mike Arroyo. Instead of a build-operate-transfer project, Abalos was brokering a $262 million loan project from China, payable by the government in 30 years, and with ZTE Corp. as the supplier.

Both groups were going to make lots and lots of money from the project. De Venecia was poised to earn a windfall profit from his 25-year service contract. Abalos, on the other hand, was ALLEGEDLY after his $130 million commission.
Both contracts were apparently laced with kickbacks.

Jun Lozada was asked by his good friend, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director Sec. Romulo Neri, to reconcile the two projects and “moderate their greed.”

He tried but failed. Because of Jun’s opposition to Abalos’ $130 million overprice, the latter threatened to have him assassinated. That’s when he dropped the whole thing like a hot potato.

In the end, the Abalos-FG tandem bagged the contract. By the time the loan agreement was signed in China by April 2007, witnessed by no less than Pres. Glora Macapagal-Arroyo, the project cost had ballooned to $329 million!

Jun Lozada could not moderate their greed. Who was he, after all, but a probinsyanong Intsik?

Fast forward one year. Lozada is now the nation’s newest hero.

Why? Because he decided to come out to tell the truth.

Like many reluctant heroes, Jun did not want to be where he is now. “Hindi ko naman gulo ito,” he repeatedly told the Senate.

He never wanted to play the hero. Until the last minute, he was asking the President’s men to do all they could to prevent him from appearing before the Senate investigation.

Well, Jesus Christ never wanted to be a hero either. Until the last moment, He was asking His Father to take the cup of suffering away from Him.

For Jun’s conversion, we have to thank the government agents that abducted him at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and drove him around aimlessly for four hours, in the process reminding him of his mortality.

The fact is, Lozada was a bit player in the NBN-ZTE deal. “Napag-utusan lang.”

His testimony is valuable not because of the information it provides. Jun does not even have any document or hard evidence to back his statements.

What makes his story so crucial is that it corroborates and confirms what many already know. He is credible precisely because he is just a bit player who has everything to lose and nothing to gain from coming out and telling the public what he knows.

Nothing to gain, that is, except his soul.

More than his testimony, it is Jun’s courage that has served as an inspiration to our people. We really need someone like him – a simple man out to tell the simple truth in this era of complex lies.

He is almost singlehandedly challenging other people in government to finally do what is right.

And he is challenging us to once again take a stand and act against government corruption and abuse.