Lozano vs. impeachment filer
Lawyer Oliver Lozano is an impeachment complainant, a known serial filer in fact. Yet he now sues a congressman who wants President Duterte impeached.
But Lozano’s moves often offer contradiction or irony. He filed five impeachment complaints against then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and yet was called “Malacañang dog” as his complaints were seen as blocks to more serious, evidenced-based complaints.
He filed two impeachment complaints against then president Noynoy Aquino and an impeachment complaint against then Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona. He called openly for then president Joseph Estrada to resign. And yet he now attacks the first impeachment complaint against Duterte.
A challenger to authority who wouldn’t wish others to be similarly defiant and questioning. Does that sync?
Or maybe it’s all about the politics in those bones ( he’ll be 77 this May 13). After all, he has never resented the tag “Marcos loyalist.”
Presidents sued
Lozano hadn’t questioned the Marcos presidency of 21 years ( 1965- 1986), nine of which were under martial law. The presidents Lozano sued in the House or called down in public forums were not Marcos allies. And the president he’s now defending, Duterte, is known as a Marcos sympathizer who’s backing the election protest of Bongbong, the Marcoses hope to return to Malacañang.
So when Lozano charged before the ombudsman Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, a former coup plotter, with “gross unfairness and baseless accusations,” one asks, what gives? Is Lozano sore that someone else beat him to the filing?
Odd, yes. A lawyer used to filing weakly- evidenced, hastily patched-up complaints against presidents condemning similar legal documents by other people. Not just verbally critical, Lozano charged the congressman before the ombudsman.
What explains
But then what seems to explain it all is that Lozano is just being a Marcos loyalist.
Who does what a loyalist does: sue Marcos enemies and defend Marcos friends. In suing Alejano, he’s defending Duterte, a Marcos supporter whose continued rule could help reinstall Marcos power in Malacañang.