Submitted by: Erika Lorenzo
Case study on Jun Lozada Case Being a Whistle-Blower
Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr. is said to have been blowing the whistle from the case of the ZTE deal. He was the man who testified on the controversial ZTE deal and confirmed what has already been assumed by many as the model of the unceasing corruption not only of this administration but also of the past governments as well.
Personally, I’m on the side of Mr. Jun Lozada. For me he is a man of integrity and has a passion of nationalism. He has done an act of heroism and revealed the stinking acts of our government to us residents of the Philippines. I admire him for standing up and risking his family’s life just so that Filipino people can learn the truth behind the ZTE deal. What struck me most is how he managed to oppose all his superiors single-handedly without the help of other individuals. I like him because unlike most of us, we are scared of power and authority that’s why we prefer to silent and deaf.
Mr. Jun Lozada sure is a whistle-blower but his actions are, according from what I learned in our ethics class, is unequivocally meaning an obligation that is paramount. Based on the De George rule, before you whistle blow, you have to do 5 things first. That is: to know if it could do serious harm to the public, if you already seek the help of your superiors but to no response, if you already exhausted all your internal avenues, if you did documentation, and lastly if public people will react. Jun Lozada has done all of these and yet, the case hasn’t been resolved so now, according to De George’s rule, he can blow the whistle.
Although I admire his passion and bravery, there are some things that bother me. It’s about how Lozada reacted when Abalos priced the commission to $130m… instead of saying no already, he even bargained it at a price of $65m. I think what he tells the public isn’t the absolute truth. There might have been some issues left discovered yet. Maybe, he also wants a share to the commission and when there’s a disagreement on price markup, he got mad and revealed to the public the half truth. I don’t know, it’s just my hunch. Nevertheless, I admire him for being brave.