“The thing that gets me going these days, as I have said, are St. Augustine’s words No one can claim the monopoly of the truth. Truth is neither yours nor mine. It is God’s.”
by Ducky Paredes
A friend from Las Salle sent me this letter. It is worth reading.
“Dear Br. Bernie FSC and my Lasallian family,
“I would like to respectfully furnish you and our community with a copy of the statement of my husband, Deputy Executive Secretary Manuel Gaite in the light of the repeated public allegations of Mr. Jun Lozada against him.
“The words of St. Augustine ‘No one can claim a monopoly of the truth’ are what have kept my husband and I going at this darkest hour of our family life. I fully stand by the integrity and honesty of my husband and I know he is not capable of doing anything as dishonorable as what Mr. Lozada have kept telling the senate and the media.
“It is very sad that when my husband finally got a chance to face Mr. Lozada in the senate and state the facts from his side, Mr. Lozada so easily got away with his very damaging statements in the previous days. I vividly recall how in a previous senate hearing before my husband was called to testify, not to mention in many media interviews, Mr. Lozada so freely maligned the name of my husband, saying among others, that it was my husband who told him to lie, go to Hong Kong to evade the Senate, and allegedly used the term “dilatory tactic” to orchestrate the entire cover up.
“When my husband finally got his chance to be heard in the senate, at one point, Mr. Lozada corrected himself, saying he must have confused my husband with another lawyer. And Mr. Lozada so easily got away with it, just like that, and still earned himself the description of a very credible and consistent witness thereafter.
“Last Saturday night, when my husband was not there in the “Harapan” to be able to promptly refute, clarify or correct Mr. Lozada’s heavy allegations, Mr. Lozada again so freely accused my husband, saying that the same gave him P 500,000 to keep him away from the Senate.
“The next day, which was the 100th year of our town Fiesta where my husband happens to be the parish centennial celebration president, was a very trying time for us as a couple, when he had to stand up in our parish and thank all those who have supported him for the celebration. Although I know how he must have been hurting inside, I never heard him utter any word to use the opportunity to air his side in the face of such damaging accusations. It was also the same time when my own La Salle community was hailing Mr. Lozada a hero in our nation’s search for truth, someone whose words cannot be questioned anymore, someone against whose words, a differing view would only be condemned.
“I have silently watched and listened to how our La Salle brothers and other members of our La Salle community, many other religious and former government leaders have repeatedly affirmed the credibility of Mr. Jun Lozada to a level seemingly beyond doubt, calling others whose words do not jibe with his story as corrupt and merely covering up for the President. Even then, I prayed I would not be tempted to pass judgment against the brothers although in my hearts of hearts, my question was how could some of the brothers whom I thought knew me personally and my husband quickly judge him purely based on the allegations of Mr. Lozada?
“During the MBC meeting the other week, I learned that Dean Juico stood up for my husband whom he had known since the time of Pres. Cory and asked the MBC to at least hear first what my husband had to say in the senate before asking him to resign based on Mr. Lozada’s very serious allegations). I was surprised to learn today from Dean Juico that it was only a couple of days ago when Bro. Armin was able to recall that Deputy Executive Secretary Gaite is my husband. It bothers me because I had thought that considering that if the allegations of Mr. Lozada are all true, the people charged would be punished; at least due diligence must have been done by persons supposedly discerning and courageously standing up for the truth.
“I know I’m not an authority in spirituality but many innocent people could be irreparably damaged through trial by publicity and even our own search for truth if our means are not as carefully consistent with our sincere ends. This is not to discredit anybody nor to criticize those who fully support the crusade for truth of Mr. Lozada as well as those who believed him completely but rather to contribute to our communal discernment of Truth for our country.
“The thing that get me going these days, as I have said, are St. Augustine’s words No one can claim the monopoly of the truth. Truth is neither yours nor mine. It is God’s. We all hold in our fragile hands a piece of Truth and I believe the call is for us to put those pieces together, humbly and with a readiness to hear other sides, even a contrary view, believing the best and not the worst in each other in order to build our country from where we are, however broken or in need of healing.
“This will be my first time to say publicly that my husband has served four presidents as an honorable man. And in all those times, not one president I recall can claim perfection nor freedom from any allegations. What if, by any chance, not all that Mr. Lozada are saying are true? Can we still bring back the good names of people and their families should they be later proven innocent in the court of law, or completely erase the clouds of doubt that have been sown in the minds of people against them?
“All I ask is for you to give my husband and all others concerned the benefit of the doubt and the human right of presumption of innocence unless proven guilty. Loving my husband as much as I do, I would not in any way attempt to obstruct justice, if he has truly done anything unlawful or dishonorable.
“Since I am currently serving in your august school as Director of our Center for Social Responsibility and Human Development, which I consider the closest to a Center for Ethics that we have at the moment, I would understand it should you honestly feel I no longer have the credibility necessary for the good name of the Center.
“I have humbly attached for your kind attention the statement of my husband. In a way it’s our joint statement since a part of what was recounted there happened when I was there. While I informed him that I would send you a copy of his statement, I did not tell him anymore of this emotional transmittal letter from me, which I will also copy furnish him.
“I only wish good things for Mr. Lozada and the rest of us.
“Yours sincerely,
“(Signed) Mrs. Maribel R. Gaite”
* * *
Let me just add that I know Manny Gaite personally and it would surprise me it the man actually did the things that J. Lo claims he did. Like Lito Atienza, another J. Lo victim, Manny is a man who truly loves and fears God. Neither man – Lito or Manny – is capable of the wrongdoing that J. Lo ascribes to them.
That so many of us are so easily duped by made-up stories is a great failing of our society and the nation.
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hvp 02.20.08)
2 Comments
Gaite should just explain as it is truthfully. Problem is when Lozada mentioned the P0.5M Gaite just kept quiet; then Secretary Ermita said they won’t comment because the case is already in the Ombudsman hence sub judice. Later Gaite claimed it came from his own pocket out of his generosity. Today Ermita says it came from a good Samaritan they would not want to name. Now which is which sige nga? That which should be easily explained by the victim to blast that bastard of a victimizer’s credibility to smithereens being responded with a confusing array of explanations does not help. If we should look closely on the inconsistencies of Lozada, so should we on the other side’s, I suppose.
I watched yesterday, Feb 26, DepExSec Gaite testify on the P500T he gave to J Lo. I really pity the man for being tried publicly. I felt the man agonizing while he was being asked malicious questions, specially by Sen ‘Juday’. I even heard the heckles made by religious people of his testimony. My God, these religious people, they who preach to be compassionate, to be a modern day ‘Good Samaritan’, would not want to accept DepExSec Gaite’s reason that he gave the P500T out of pity.
Do they in the Senate really want the truth? Why is it that when the testimony of a witness would be adverse to J Lo’s testimony, they would treat him like a liar, ready to be thrown to the lion’s den. Look, what happened when Atty Bautista testified completely debunking J Lo’s testimony that the affidavit was just given to him and for him to sign. Didn’t Atty Bautista testify that in fact, J Lo even went to his house to edit the affidavit? Immediately, the senate brushed aside this issue so as not to affect J Lo’s credibility. I now really appreciate Sen Enrile’s brilliance. It was Sen Enrile who questioned J Lo’s permissive zone. By the way, kung bubukol ang $130M, is the $65M kickback recommended by J Lo within his permissive zone? Yesterday, Sen Enrile questioned Sen Lacson why he knew J Lo would be leaving for HongKong, that he would not go to London, promise to return from HongKong, and testify in the Senate. This is an issue that should be scrutinized, because after all, this whole ‘abduction scenario’ was just a mere set-up by J Lo to give an explosive introduction of his supposed conviction to now testify before the senate.
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