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Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Editorial: Confession and Garcilliano
THE report that former (former since Commission on Elections Chief Benjamin Abalos advised him not to seek re-appointment) Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcilliano and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo met up in Cagayan de Oro to discuss the controversial audio tape may be one more glaring speculation that would further build public suspicion and outrage against the country's leader.
As recounted by an ABS-CBN news team, they went to Garcilliano's Cagayan de Oro residence only to be told that he was away.
When they went to the official's Baungon, Bukidnon farm they were also told that Garcilliano wasn't around only to later admit otherwise when the official's presence was confirmed by neighbors and the mayor himself.
According to the residents Garcilliano, arrived in his farm not too long after the audio CD scandal broke out with a large team of bodyguards at his side.
From there reports emerged that the Comelec commissioner may be headed to parts unknown but it was revealed that he may either go to Sabah or Malaysia.
This in order to escape a proposed congressional inquiry into the audio CD scandal that may break wide open the allegations that President Arroyo, Garcilliano and even former Senator Robert Barbers conspired to rig the elections and ensure the sitting Palace occupant of six more years in office.
The audio CD scandal is being focused on by Arroyo opponents and lawmakers following the two-week suspension on the jueteng hearings which at least resulted in Pampanga Representative Mikey Arroyo declaring an indefinite leave of absence in order to cool off that raging controversy and divert seeming public outrage against the President.
But with Congress or the Senate launching yet another investigation into this audio CD scandal the President will be locked on by the opposition and militant groups who have been demanding her resignation since the jueteng controversy first sparked early this month which also happens to be the first year of her six-year term.
Though questions of whether this would be sufficient to stir up public sentiment to levels approachable to the first two Edsa revolutions still float around as most institutions like the military and local officials have pledged their support to the presidency. In this regard President Arroyo would have to pay a lot of political debts and may be rendered lame duck if she doesn't pay up.
Which also points to the inevitable outcome that the President would have to address the issue sooner or later. President Arroyo pledged to do so in a meeting with Church authorities in Cagayan de Oro and Garcilliano's impending disappearance--unless by some miracle he shows up--may enable her to do just that.
(June 21, 2005 issue)
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