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Friday, August 19, 2005
2 agencies to probe 'escape' of wanted ex-poll exec
* Investigation bureau says it is now easier to track down Garcillano's whereabouts following confirmation from Singapore that the former election commissioner went there
THE Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) and the Air Transportation Office (ATO) will conduct separate investigations on how former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Virgilio Garcillano managed to leave the country amidst the wiretapping scandal that linked him and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to election fraud.
BID Commissioner Alipio Fernandez said he has formed a fact-finding team to determine if a Subic Air Learjet RP-P1426 indeed left for Singapore last July 14 and if Garcillano was on the plane.
Fernandez said he asked the fact-finding team to come up with their investigation report in five days.
ATO Chief Nilo Jatico, for his part, said they would ask the two pilots of the plane, one of them identified as Captain Art Santos, if they had Garcillano on board during their flight last July 14.
Although he confirmed that Santos and his co-pilot flew the Subic Air jet that left for Singapore last July 14, Jatico said the two did not inform the ATO about a passenger on board.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), meanwhile, said it will be easier to track the whereabouts of Garcillano after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed his presence in Singapore but it will be up to the Singaporean Government to decide whether to act on any request to be made by the Philippine Government to locate the fugitive election official.
NBI Interpol Division Chief Ricardo Diaz said the absence of an extradition treaty between the Philippines and Singapore makes it difficult to track down Garcillano, but at least, government now has an idea where to start looking.
The Philippines also has no extradition commitment with United Kingdom where Garcillano allegedly flew to from Singapore.
"We need to ask our counterparts in Singapore to locate Garcillano and have him turned over here on the basis of a warrant of arrest issued by Congress. The question now is if the Singaporean Government will treat the charge against him as a criminal offense and agree to locate him. It's their call, they have their own laws," he said.
Outside of the contempt charge by the House of Representatives, Garcillano is not facing any criminal case that makes it difficult to sell to Singaporean authorities the idea of arresting him.
"We can show them the warrant of arrest issued by Congress but that is not a criminal warrant," he said.
Garcillano has been the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the House of Representatives for not appearing in the House inquiry on the wiretapping scandal. He also did not send any lawyer to represent him.
The five House committees investigating the taped conversations of Garcillano and President Arroyo need the former elections official in the hearing to shed light on the alleged plan to manipulate the May 2004 presidential elections.
Garcillano has been in hiding since the wiretapping controversy broke out four months ago. He did not report for work in the Comelec and has also abandoned his house in Cagayan de Oro City and his condominium unit in Ermita, Manila.
A report said Garcillano went to Singapore last July 14 and proceeded to the United Kingdom the following day. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed that the former elections official had flown to Singapore but had since left that country for an unknown destination. (JFF/ECV/Sunnex)
(August 19, 2005 issue)
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