Mike Defensor drops libel suit vs Jun Lozada

By Benjamin B. Pulta
05/29/2009

Saying he has lost interest in pushing fhe case, Former Malacañang aide and administration senatorial candidate Michael Defensor is withdrawing the libel suit he had filed against National Broadband Network-ZTE “anomaly” whistle-blower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr.

In a letter dated May 27 and addressed to Judge Jorge Emmanuel Lorredo of the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 26, Defensor said he is “no longer interested in pursuing the present case.”

The former presidential chief of staff said that while he is “determined to seek relief for the criminal acts committed by Jun Lozada,” he feels that he “may not be able to obtain impartial justice.”

Lorredo, who had already dismissed the case against Lozada before Defensor elevated the case to the Court of Appeals in an order made subsequently public that his suit might only result in more embarrassment for the Arroyo administration.

“I am confident that, in the future, I will still be able to obtain justice. It is only unfortunate that just because of my presumed close relationship with the present administration my complaint was prejudged as a harassment suit, when, in fact, it is a plain, meritorious and legitimate action seeking relief for the wrong done upon me and my family,” Defensor said in his letter.

Defensor moreover claimed he had lost zeal to pursue the case after Lorredo had shown bias toward Lozada.

“Even a cursory reading of the orders issued by the court would expose the presiding judge’s bias in favor of the accused,” he said.

He said he will not be able to attend the hearings while his lawyers are preparing the documents necessary to cause the withdrawal of the complaint.
Earlier, Lorredo had also claimed that Malacañang was pressuring him to inhibit from the perjury case filed by Defensor, who now heads the board of the State-run Philippine National Railways.

In his order last May 4, Lorredo tried to persuade Defensor to withdraw the perjury case.

In a report, the judge also announced that he was inviting Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, who has been given the title of “Ambassador of Peace” by Malacañang, to the perjury case’s pre-trial hearing.

“I’m calling on Pacquiao to go to my courtroom. I will allow him to talk to Mike Defensor and Jun Lozada,” Lorredo said, noting that the boxing icon, being an Ambassador of Peace, might be able to help him broker peace between the two.

According to the judge, he was having a hard time persuading Defensor to make peace with Lozada. He said one of the reasons for this difficulty was Malacañang’s conflicting position on the case.

Lorredo also said according to his friends, the Palace was planning to ask Pacquiao to humiliate him in public as part of the demolition job to force him to inhibit from the case.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/nation/20090529nat1.html