GOTCHA, Published in The Philippine Star, Friday, February 8, 2008
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak out for me.
— Martin Niemoeller, German pastor imprisoned by Hitler
Joey de Venecia had just narrated the threats on his life when — wham! — another startler leapt from the ZTE thriller. Malacañang thugs in broad daylight snatched witness Jun Lozada to prevent him from talking at the Senate. Indications are the admin will stop at nothing to stifle evidence and testimony of $200-million (P10-billion) overpricing in the $330-million deal. It not only will depose a long-time political ally like the Speaker, but even kidnap.
De Venecia said their lives were imperiled when son Joey blew the whistle on the ZTE scam. Linking First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, Comelec chief Ben Abalos and Sec. Larry Mendoza to high crime worsened matters. Ex-Army chief Jaime delos
It would have been proper for Arroyo to direct the National Police chief to investigate and render a report to the fourth highest official of the land. The President’s sworn duty is to “execute laws and do justice to every man.” But Arroyo did nothing, de Venecia lamented. Not even an answer to his letter. And so he warned, while recounting the many unsolved killings and kidnappings since Arroyo came to power in 2001, “If it can happen to me, it can happen to you.”
And then, the next day, they kidnapped Lozada to silence him.
Many things can be said about this latest attempt at coverup. For one, the
Moreover, in pattern of the 1983 Ninoy Aquino assassination, Lozada was whisked from the air tube to the tarmac and into a car. It may even be said that it also smacks of the abduction of publicist Bubby Dacer when the Estrada regime was crumbling from exposés of high crimes in Nov. 2000. In both cases, security forces committed the heinous crimes.
The saving grace in Lozada’s abduction perhaps is that dogged press reporting scared the perpetrators into returning him to his family. Cabinet chief Ed Ermita frowns at The STAR’s Wednesday banner quoting Lozada as crying “kidnap”. Had that crucial word been suppressed, Lozada might not have resurfaced alive.
At least 200 persons, by the National Police’s account (800, according to militants) have been killed or disappeared for their work as activists and unionists, journalists and jurists. The United Nations has taken the Arroyo admin to task for failing to stop the death squads. Malacañang spin-doctors in response keep denying convincing proof of paramilitary involvement.
It’s up to brave Filipinos to denounce the murders and abductions, lest these worsen until no one is left to speak out.
* * *
Notably, in reply to de Venecia’s gripe of no official action against assassination plots, the Armed Forces chief claimed he could do nothing because the source of the info had denied it. At the same time, the National Police head took custody of Lozada allegedly because of threats to his life, although he never sought help from the police he so distrusts.
It must be said that Joey and I have been getting death threats since Sept. and have reported so — yet the police has not offered us the protection that it so eagerly is giving to the reluctant Lozada.
