Senate star witness Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr. urged Filipinos Sunday  to be persistent in seeking the truth behind the botched $329-million national broadband network with China’s ZTE Corp.

Lozada said it is important for the public to continue to be interested in NBN-ZTE issue.

He believed that people will continue to “place their bets” on him until they “win the jackpot.”

Lozada said the rice crisis being floated in the media is merely a tactic of the present administration to divert the public’s attention from the government’s corruption in the controversial NBN project.

He claimed the same thing happened when the media highlighted Glorietta 2 shopping mall blast at the height of NBN-ZTE scandal.

While admitting that people really have a hard time due to the high cost of rice, Lozada said it is also the by-product of the corruption in government.

Lozada, a former president of government-controlled Philippine Forest Corp., testified before Senate Blue Ribbon Committee investigating the NBN-ZTE contract.

Tondo folk show support anew

In his testimony, he alleged that the multi-million dollar contract awarded to the Chinese firm was overpriced to accommodate the kickbacks of former poll chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. and his close business associates.

Meanwhile, during the Mass for Truth for Lozada at the Sto. Niño church in Tondo, Manila on Sunday, many of the parishioners showed their support for the Senate witness.

The crowd at the Mass officiated by Manila Auxiliary bishop Broderick Pabillo, was bigger than the previous ones.

Family members of former president Corazon Aquino also attended the Mass.   

Doesn't mind tag

Earlier, Lozada said he does not mind being a "has-been" in the media for his allegations before the Blue Ribbon Committee on the NBN-ZTE deal. He said he is unmindful of not being the "flavor of the month" in media.

"That’s good because I really don’t want to be famous. It’s not fame I wanted when I spoke (on the NBN deal)…All I wanted is for the Filipinos to know the truth and did not want to be an instrument in telling lies to them," Lozada said in Filipino in an interview with ABS-CBN’s morning show "Umagang Kay Ganda."

Lozada told UKG Friday that as long as the public will forget his revelations, it is alright for him to be "laos" (has-been).

"If that’s what they wanted to paint me to be, then it’s good to be ‘laos’ but I hope Filipinos have been awakened in my revelations on the truth to them," he said, blaming the government for trying to cover up an anomaly for the public to forget.

Some observers noted that crowds at Lozada’s speaking engagements and "Mass for Truth" in various venues in Metro Manila and provinces has thinned in the past weeks.