Jethro's Blogosphere

Philippine police on Wednesday arrested on perjury charges a witness in a Senate corruption inquiry that implicated the president's husband.

Rodolfo Lozada Jr., a former technical consultant in an aborted broadband deal with a Chinese telecommunications company, was taken into custody after a court issued an arrest warrant in the perjury case filed against him by a former member of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's Cabinet.

In his complaint, Mike Defensor said Lozada lied when he told the Senate last year that he had been kidnapped by security agents to prevent him from exposing the allegedly corruption-tainted contract and that Defensor instructed him to deny the abduction and any knowledge of the deal.

During the Senate hearings on the $330 million national broadband network contract with China's ZTE Corp., Lozada accused former elections commission chief Benjamin Abalos of demanding a huge kickback from the deal. He also claimed Arroyo's husband, lawyer Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, took part in backroom negotiations in the deal.

Both men have denied the allegations, and ZTE denied bribing Philippine officials. The deal was canceled by Arroyo in 2007 due to the controversy.

"In our country, you will be jailed if you tell the truth," Lozada told reporters as officers led him from the compound of La Salle High School _ a Catholic boys school in suburban San Juan which has been his family's home for over a year since testifying in the Senate.

Lozada, who became a rallying point for the opposition demanding Arroyo's resignation, has been living there, citing alleged threats to his life.

He was accompanied in the police car by Sister Mary John Mananzan, head of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines.

"We will not leave his side because we know he is a crusader for truth," Mananzan said.

In various radio interviews Wednesday, Lozada expressed defiance and said he was prepared to face the charges, which he claims were part of efforts by the Arroyo government to silence him.

"I respect Mike's right to protect his name but I am standing by my statement that they are doing this to cover up ... this deal," he said.

From: yahoo.com news