Tell the truth on Lozada,’ Puno pleads with religious

By Thea AlbertoINQUIRER.netFirst Posted 15:39:00 02/07/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno pleaded with religious who helped Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. to tell the truth about what happened the night the key witness in the Senate probe of the national broadband network (NBN) deal went missing after returning to the country.
"I don't understand why all of these things are being said now…I'm really disappointed with how people dealt with us," Puno told a press conference Thursday.
Lozada had been whisked away by unidentified men immediately after arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Tuesday evening, with his family claiming he had been abducted by government agents.
However, Razon claimed Lozada had sought protection and had been fetched at the airport by police. This has been denied by Lozada, who surfaced at the La Salle Greenhills school in Mandaluyong City.
Razon said the La Salle brothers and the nuns who accompanied Lozada when he surfaced early Thursday morning "knew the truth" that the witness was "free to move around" while he was in their care at the La Salle Greenhills dormitory.
"Dela Salle brothers have pity on us…tell the public the truth that…Lozada was peacefully asleep while the police who were guarding him were attacked by mosquitoes," said Puno.
Puno maintained Lozada was not abducted, as his family charge.
"If there's anybody who was hiding Lozada, that certainly was not us," he added.
Puno said the Senate must also call the religious to its probe to shed light.
"Tawagin din nila [ang] La Salle brothers na tahimik ngayon, na hindi sinasabi sa inyo [Let them call the La Salle brothers who are silent now, who are not telling] what happened," said Puno.