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Friday, November 18, 2005
Mayor claims ex-poll officer gives names in book
By Lizanilla J. Amarga
MAYOR Vicente Emano Thursday disclosed that embattled former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Virgilio Garcillano is writing a book that would list the politicians who asked his help during his stint as a poll official.
He said he was able to talk to one of the very close friends of Garcillano who told him about the former Comelec commissioner's current endeavor.
"This friend of Garcillano is really a very reliable source," he said over dxIF Bombo Radyo Thursday.
Earlier, the five House committees that looked into the "Hello Garci" tapes controversy refused Wednesday to acknowledge investigation findings that said Malacañang initiated a grand cover-up on the inquiry.
Garcillano, who served here as a regional director of Comelec 10 for several years, was thrown into the limelight when his cellular phone was illegally wiretapped and Malacañang released a copy of the conversations recorded from his phone to the media.
The tape became known as the Gloriagate tapes or otherwise known as the "Hello Garci" CD and allegedly contains the voices of Garcillano and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo talking during the May 2004 Elections.
The "Hello Garci" tapes became the subject of congressional and even Senate hearings and became the basis of the filing of an impeachment complaint against Arroyo.
Help
However, Garcillano, who resided here in Cagayan de Oro at the RER Subdivision and is known to Emano and several other local politicians, seems to elude authorities despite the issuance of several subpoenas.
Emano said Thursday he knew of Garcillano when he ran and served as provincial governor of Misamis Oriental for two terms.
He said the source who told him that Garcillano is writing a book also disclosed that one of the big-time politicians named in the former commissioner's book was one who also wanted Emano behind bars.
"This politician asked for help on how to go about filing charges against me," the mayor said.
He added that Garcillano's book would at least help answer questions surrounding the mysterious "Hello Garci" tapes and the truth behind the 2004 elections.
Cavite Representative Gilbert Remulla, chairman of the house committee on public information, said in Manila the five committees could not confirm the "leaked" findings published in two national dailies since they are not yet done with the report.
He added it would take them at least one more week to finalize the report before committee members would vote on it. Remulla denied that he was the one who leaked the report.
Raw
He said he would never do such a thing since under the House rules, "raw committee reports" should never be made public as it is still subject to changes.
Other committee chairmen said they were still in the process of debating what should come out in the final report. They too said it would take at least one more week before the report was finished.
Administration congressmen, some opposition members said, would exert every effort to modify or to water down the supposed committee report to make President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her government appear less guilty or not guilty at all.
Akbayan Muna party-list Representative Risa Hontiveros Baraquel said they are expecting some "magic" to happen once the official committee report is released, claiming that administration congressmen would not allow the Arroyo administration to be further put in a bad light.
Deputy House minority leader Rolex Suplico, for his part, said some members of the committees are now making "substantial" changes in the report after what happened.
He also expressed belief that such changes would water down the supposed earlier findings. (With a report from Sunnex)
(November 18, 2005 issue)
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