NBN-ZTE whistleblower Jun Lozada released from prison

The Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) confirmed Wednesday that NBN-ZTE deal whistleblower Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr. has been released from detention at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

The bureau said Lozada and his brother, Jose Orlando Lozada, were released on 9 May after serving the minimum period of their sentences and becoming eligible for parole.

The case stemmed from a 2007 complaint filed by the Office of the Ombudsman, which accused Lozada of showing partiality and giving unwarranted benefits by awarding over 6.599 hectares of public land to his brother under the Philippine Forest Corporation’s Lupang Hinirang Program.

In August 2016, the Sandiganbayan found the Lozada brothers guilty of graft. The Supreme Court in 2022 upheld the ruling with modifications, sentencing them to a minimum of six years and one month and a maximum of 10 years and one day in prison.

Jun Lozada gained national prominence in the late 2000s after exposing alleged corruption in the controversial multi-million-dollar NBN-ZTE broadband deal involving former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.