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Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Palace admits it's Arroyo on tape
MALACAÑANG admits it was President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's voice on a recording, in which she told someone to make sure she would win last year's election. But she was talking to a campaign adviser, not an election official.
The Arroyo administration may be hounded by controversy, but local officials are unshaken by reports of the President's alleged cheating in the elections and her family's involvement in jueteng.
Representative Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south), Representative Simeon Kintanar (Cebu, 2nd district), Bohol Governor Erico Aumentado and Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Robert Go all agree that it's still "premature" to pin allegations on the President and members of her family.
Cuenco described as "double hearsay" the testimonies in the Senate inquiry against First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo and Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo on their involvement in jueteng payoffs.
"Pabilin ang akong suporta. I have opposed presidents before," Cuenco said, naming ousted presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada.
Impeachment
In Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said attempts to impeach the President will fail.
"We can't prevent anyone to file an impeachment case against the President. But we all know that there are some who will not stop from doing everything to disrupt the Arroyo Government. Well, we can say that they will not succeed," he said.
A report said some members of the opposition, particularly those in the House of Representatives, are considering the filing of an impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, over allegations being hurled against her and her family.
Before the jueteng payola controversy could die down, taped conversations between the President and an official of the elections commission appeared to indicate electoral fraud.
In a separate interview, former Cebu City mayor Alvin Garcia, who ran under the camp of the late Fernando Poe Jr. in the last elections, said he is willing to initiate moves against the President, but only if it is proven that the allegations against her are true.
'No basis'
Garcia said they need to verify these first with the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
He said, though, that he has not been in contact with Poe's widow, Susan Roces, or any of the opposition officials in Manila.
Aumentado, also president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, shared Bunye's opinion.
"There is no legal and factual basis to link the President to the alleged electoral cheating," he said, adding the Senate inquiry is just a waste of time.
Aumentado said the rules of evidence state that the tape containing the wiretapped conversations cannot be admitted as evidence, because it was obtained in violation of the law.
"We will stand by the President. We will support the President because there is no evidence linking her to any of these charges that have been hurled against her," Aumentado further said.
Not Garcillano
The tape allegedly had the President ordering Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano of Comelec to make sure she wins by at least one million votes.
Malacañang admitted it was the President on the tape but she was talking to a certain Gary, a local political officer.
For his part, Garcillano told Manila media that he never attempted to communicate with the President nor even air his personal choice. "Listen first to the tape [to determine] if I'm the one [in it]," he said.
Garcillano also said that during the May 2004 elections, he was assigned as commissioner-in-charge of Southern Tagalog and Bicol regions.
Lawyer Alan Paguia has admitted he was the source of the audio recording on a compact disc.
Paguia once served as defense lawyer in the plunder case against deposed president Joseph Estrada. However, in 2003, the Supreme Court suspended him indefinitely from practicing law, for breach of legal ethics.
Confidence
Aumentado agrees with Cuenco that the evidence presented so far is weak.
For Go, the issues could be damaging to the economy, but the CCCI continues to have trust and confidence in the President.
Go added that if the President proves she is innocent of the charges, the cloud over her administration will pass.
Kintanar, meanwhile, sees no reason to abandon Arroyo at this time, saying the issues hurled against her were still unripe.
He views the wiretapped conversation as a sensitive issue that needs careful study, but said he still needs "a lot of convincing."
House Deputy Speaker Raul del Mar declined to comment, as he was kept busy presiding over the session Tuesday.
Think local
At Cebu City Hall, Mayor Tomas Osmeña advised Cebuanos not to listen anymore to what's happening in Manila.
"Labad akong ulo. I'd rather concentrate on our own problems. Cebu City will save itself. We'd rather talk about traffic problems here than discussing problems in Manila. We'll just be disappointed," he told a news conference Tuesday.
Osmeña said Cebu has its own problems to attend to, such as the move to divide the province, the delay in the issuance of titles for the South Reclamation Project, video carrera operations and improving the standards of public school teachers.
Central Command and the Police Regional Office 7 have also issued similar statements of support for the administration.
Centcom spokesperson Lt. Col. Jefferson Oman-dam said the controversy over the resort in Boracay will not sway the members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines into plotting against Arroyo.
Omandam assured that all enlisted members of the AFP will benefit from the resort and there are no personnel disgruntled over the construction of the recreation facility. (Sun.Star Cebu with reports from Sunnex Luzon & PNA)
(June 8, 2005 issue)
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