Hundreds attend Ateneo Mass for ZTE deal witness Lozada

Hundreds supporting Senate witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada on Monday night attended the "Mass for Truth and Accountability" at the Church of the Gesù of the Ateneo de Manila University along Katipunan Road in Quezon City. Among the personalities who attended the Mass were former President Corazon Aquino, former Akbayan party-list representative Loretta Ann Rosales, and Georgina De Venecia, the wife of ousted Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. Farmers from Sumilao, Bukidnon also attended the Mass in support of Lozada. Mass celebrant Fr. Jose Mario Francisco urged Romulo Neri, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education, and other government officials to come out and tell the whole truth about the alleged anomalies in the government's National Broadband Network (NBN) project with China's ZTE Corp. In September 2007, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo canceled the project after her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, and Benjamin Abalos, former chairman of the Commission on Elections were linked to the alleged overpricing of the $329.48-million NBN-ZTE deal. After the Mass, the churchgoers staged a noise barrage and candle-lighting ceremony at the Ateneo grounds. Lozada is expected to go to Quezon City after Monday's hearing at the Senate to join his supporters at Ateneo. - GMANews.TV