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Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Alliance takes up cudgels for ex-poll officer
By Danilo V. Adorador III
correspondent
* House inquiry on; wife claimed former Comelec commissioner in RP
* Lawmakers seek extradition moves; DPWH sec denies accompanying Garci
AN OPEN letter purportedly coming from the Alliance of Comelec (Commission on Elections) Employees in Mindanao has been circulating around, appealing for fairness in the midst of the scandal rocking the administration.
"Reports say that the alleged wiretapped conversation was a result of the bugging of the phone of former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. If the same is true then we can only assume that the alleged bugging transpired during the election period of the last May 10, 2004 national and local elections. We dare ask: How come only that one particular conversation has been publicized?" the statement reads.
Former senator Francisco Tatad earlier said Garcillano had flown to Kota Kinabulu in Malaysia on board a private plane Saturday night.
He said Garcillano was escorted by Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. But Garcillano's wife Grace has denied that her husband has fled the country.
She said her husband is in the country and ready to face any investigation.
Muntinlupa City Representative Rafael Biazon, vice chair of the House committee on national defense, which is one of the five committees tasked to look into the wiretapping controversy, said if ever Garcillano has fled the country, they would seek his extradition.
Biazon said the reported departure of Garcillano would not bar them from pursuing the investigation. "We will summon him (Garcillano) wherever he is," he said.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane also denied escorting Garcilliano, saying he had an engagement last Saturday and had "loose bowel movement" thus he was unable to accompany anyone.
Meanwhile the alliance said they are certain that "there were other politicians, whether administration or opposition candidates, who called him up as is expected to happen during any election period."
" Why are those conversations not being aired today? Was the "wiretapping" then discriminatory only against calls from the President?" the statement continues. The group said they don't believe that "no other politician called Commissioner Garcillano."
"And we most certainly will not believe that the other Commissioners were not themselves contacted by politicians," the statement added.
The group also called on the airing on all "other conversations that went on during the period of the alleged wiretapping."
Doubts on the veracity of the alleged wiretapped conversation were also raised by the group: "How could the public be truly certain that it was indeed commissioner Garcillano's phone that had been bugged?"
In the statement, the group denied being instruments of alleged massive electoral fraud during the last elections.
"To be sure, the President never asked Commissioner Garcillano to carry out acts of fraudulence nor did Commissioner Garcillano or any other Comelec Commissioner NEVER asked us, in Comelec Mindanao, to execute and/or perform any illegal act in the furtherance of the candidacy of any politician, administration or opposition," the statement said. (With a report from Sunnex)
(June 21, 2005 issue)
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