FIRST of all, we would like to congratulate Sen. Richard Gordon, chair of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, for the ?fast and flash? result of the final Senate hearing on the NBN-ZTE deal conducted last Sept. 1, 2009. We?ve been wanting to know the outcome of the lengthy investigation of the NBN-ZTE deal since last year.

We, religious women and men, were fortunate enough to be present in almost all the Senate hearings on the NBN-ZTE deal, spearheaded by then Blue Ribbon Committee chair Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

We are happy that many public officials, headed by no less than the First Couple, have been recommended for prosecution. This is something for which we can be grateful to Gordon.

We are unhappy though that the names of Jun Lozada and Joey de Venecia are included in the list of those recommended for prosecution. Both are popular whistle-blowers of the NBN-ZTE scandal. Why, oh why, Senator Gordon?

The irony of it! What we were very much afraid of has become a reality. ?Sa ating bayan kung sino ang nagsasabi ng totoo ay siyang nalalagay sa alanganing hindi makatarungan (In our country, he who speaks the truth ends up, unfairly, in a precarious spot).? Poor Jun and Joey! The accusers have now become the accused!

Even if they blew the whistle after they were not able to get what they wanted, still both of them were honest and brave enough to stand for truth and justice. They knew the harm, trouble and imminent danger they had to face for telling the truth. What is important is that in the end they helped expose a ?stinking deal.? We owe them for exposing what kind of leaders our public officials really are, for showing us their true colors?shady colors!

?SR. EVA PALENCIA, DC,

advocacy desk,

Concordia College,

Paco, Manila