"Mrs. Arroyo told me not to appear, not to speak in the Senate anymore."The Mrs. Arroyo that Rodolfo Noel "Jun" Lozada Jr. was referring to is Sen. Joker Arroyo's wife, Fely Aquino.
In a one-on-one interview with ABS-CBN News on Sunday, Lozada said he was invited by the Arroyos at their residence in Dasmariñas Village in Makati City. He, however, did not mention when the meeting took place.
"They invited me to go to their home in Dasmariñas Village and [at the] end of that meeting, Mrs. Arroyo told me not to appear, not to speak in the Senate anymore," he said, adding that they talked about what he knows about the botched $329-million national broadband network (NBN) deal.
This was the story that Lozada was trying to tell the senators during Monday's hearing. Lozada mentioned his meeting with Mrs. Arroyo as a response to Sen. Arroyo's statement that the Senate witness is very selective of the people he wanted to talk to.
"It smacks of bad faith... You're talking to some, but you're talking to us. You favor some senators, you don't favor others. I raise those points because its a question of good faith," Arroyo said during Monday's hearing.
Lozada replied: "Kung sabi ninyo na bad faith na kinausap ko si Senator Lacson. Nakausap ko ri ho ang asawa ninyo eh (If you're saying that it's bad faith that I was only talking with Senator Lacson. I also talked with your wife)."
The senator cut Lozada and warned him not to "mess around with my wife."
The Senate witness, who was on the verge of tears, said several people have been talking to him. He said people talking to him about the controversy is the primary reason he didn't want to go to the Senate.
Abya: Not from lawyer Fely Arroyo
A different version however was narrated to radio dzMM by Tony Abaya who was mentioned in the Senate hearing as the one who was with Lozada in the meeting with Mrs. Arroyo.
Abaya, a businessman who said he is a friend and former classmate of former socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri, said the supposed meeting between Lozada and Mrs. Arroyo may have happened the same day that Neri was testifying at the Senate as he tried to recount the events leading to the meeting.
Abaya said a certain Nonoy whom he identified as a common friend with Neri, called him up "out of the blue" and made him talk with Lozada.
"They said they want to tell the truth as the truth is, but [they] are afraid that it might cause some political turmoil," he said, adding that Lozada and Nonoy told him that they are not aware if President Arroyo was directly involved in the NBN deal mess.
Abaya said he thought of Mrs. Arroyo, who is also his friend, to Lozada who was then "asking for an audience." He said he convinced the senator's wife to agree to meet Lozada and hear his case.
Abaya clarified that it was he who initiated the meeting between Lozada and Mrs. Arroyo since Lozada was seeking advise.
The businessman said he was not sure of the date, but said it was maybe when Neri was being sworn in at the Senate when Lozada and Mrs. Arroyo held a meeting.
Neri testified at the Senate on Sept. 26, 2007. He revealed during the hearing that resigned poll chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. offered him P200 million to favor China's ZTE Corp. for the NBN project.
Abaya said that Lozada at that had not yet been invited but the Senate as a witness, "So Jun at that time was talking in behalf of Neri."
Abaya said that he was with Lozada and Mrs. Arroyo "90 percent of the time" during the discussion but he never heard the senator's wife advised the Senate witness not to come out.
He said Mrs. Arroyo asked Lozada, "Ano ang plano ninyo? (What is your plan?)," and he said Lozada's reply was, "We don't know yet. I don't think we should be testifying."
"Doon sumang-ayon si Fely. 'Wag naman sanang sabihin ni Pareng Jun na kay Fely nanggaling 'yung suggestion. Sa kanya nanggaling ang statement na 'I don't think we should be testifying,'" Abaya said.
(That was when Fely agreed. I hope [Lozada] would stop saying that the suggestion came from Fely. The statement, 'I don't think we should be testifying' came from [Lozada].)
Lozada had repeatedly said that he tried to avoid appearing at the Senate and tell everybody what he knows about the botched $329-million national broadband network deal because he knew that he couldn't lie.
The Senate witness had implicated several government officials in his alleged abduction, which senators said was part of the broadband deal scandal's cover up.
Lozada arrived from Hong Kong Tuesday afternoon last week at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. He said he was fetched by "military-looking men" from the airport.
He said he was driven around Metro Manila and Laguna province before he tricked his "abductors" into bringing him to the La Salle Brothers dormitory at the La Salle Greenhills compound in Mandaluyong City.
Senior Superintendent Paul Mascariñas, the police official who claimed leading the security team that fetched Lozada from the airport, said the Senate witness moved freely while under their custody.
However, Mascariñas admitted that all the time that he was with Lozada, he failed to ask the Senate witness who he was running away from.
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