Martin Luther King Jr. once said the true measure of a man is found not during times of convenience and compromise but during times of difficulty and controversy.

It’s been a year since Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada dared to tell the truth on government corruption and the Arroyo administration’s lawless attempts to hide its dark deeds. It’s now one year that Lozada has been suffering from the persecution and vindictiveness of the administration. He has sacrificed a luxurious and comfortable life that was being enjoyed by his beloved wife and children before. He was offered by his powerful enemies a high-paying government job on condition that he would recant his testimony and exonerate the guilty and the corrupt.

Like Ninoy Aquino, he refused to betray his people. Lozada is a solitary voice in the wilderness, where cowards who fear to speak for the truth reign supreme.

Who is a Filipino like Lozada so selfless, so brave, so patriotic, so willing to continue his lonely struggle for truth and justice even when the culture of impunity and indifference holds sway in a seemingly endless tunnel of darkness and corruption? No one! Then there is only one morally qualified to run for the presidency of our country; a true heir of Jose Rizal; a real brother of our martyr Ninoy Aquino. Yes, Jun Lozada for president!

RAUL JOSE F. ALEJANDRINO, Philosophy Department, Miriam College, Quezon City