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Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Arroyo aide justifies release of tape
MANILA -- Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Tuesday his intention to release in public tapes of the alleged wiretapped conversation between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and an election commissioner to rig the 2004 presidential polls was to defend the government.
He said he released compact discs containing the alleged conversation between Arroyo and former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in response to its airing by radio station dzMM.
Appearing Tuesday at a hearing by the House of Representatives on the tape issue, Bunye, who is also Arroyo's spokesman, said his action was in response to an earlier radio broadcast of the conversation and not to preempt any plan of destabilization against the government.
He said his plan was to bring the CDs to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the agency to analyze their content after he had informed the President about it but he was forced to come out with it in a press conference last June 6 because of the radio broadcast.
"I decided to play the CDs so that reporters covering Malacañang and also the public would know the truth about it," he said.
After having played the tapes, Bunye said he informed Arroyo about what transpired during the media briefing.
When asked by Ilocos Norte Representative Imee Marcos if he identified one of the voices as Arroyo's, Bunye said the woman in the tape sounded like the President.
He also apologized to the opposition congressmen for accusing them of using the controversy over the tapes to overthrow the Arroyo government.
Bunye said he "must have allowed" the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC) to listen to the two CDs and burned it in a reporter's computer hard disk.
He said he did it at the "insistence of the Malacañang Press Corps."
Based on the official transcripts of his press briefing in June 6 before the CDs were played, Bunye offered to play the CDs to reporters.
"If you are prepared, if you wish to review both tapes, we will give you maybe an hour, or hour and a half, to review both tapes, after this we will turn these over to the NBI for investigation," he said then.
Bunye's CDs were played in the desktop computer shared by Tanod reporter Rose Novenario and radio station dzME's Leo Palo III while some newspaper reporters recorded them.
One version was aired over government-owned radio station dzRB. Other reporters asked for permission to copy the CDs in their laptop computers.
Bunye, in his June 6 briefing, also said the voice of "Gary" is not that of Garcillano but that "this person will come out in due time."
He also indicated that Malacañang knows who the President was talking to on the other line. "...if they are trying to show that this was a conversation by the President and a Comelec Commissioner, then this plan will backfire, because we know the other person on the other line."
He then expressed Malacañang's outrage over the fact that "the telephone of the President has been tapped." He said the act was illegal and is punishable under the Revised Penal Code.
When asked whether the female person's voice was that of President Arroyo, he said: "That is the President's voice, but the other party on the line is not that of a commissioner. There is a conversation. This is privileged conversation between the President and the political leader."
Pressed to identify the "political leader," Bunye said: "We need something for Part 2...We will let you know Part 2 tomorrow."
Bunye did not give a "Part 2." He just made the rounds of radio stations the following day.
Asked in Tuesday's hearing as to where he obtained the CDs, Bunye said someone brought the items to his house in Alabang, Muntinlupa City last June 6. A caretaker of their house brought the CDs to his office in Malacañang in the afternoon, he said.
Bunye said he was informed by a staffer that there was a brown envelope atop his table that was brought by a caretaker of his house and when he opened it, he saw two CDs in it.
"One CD marked with original while the other one marked with tampered," he said.
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco was set to speak during the hearing Tuesday but his appearance was postponed to Wednesday due to lack of time.
An argument among members of the committee over the rules to be observed during the proceedings consumed more than two hours of the supposed three-hour House hearing on the wiretapping issue.
The hearing was supposed to start at 1 p.m. but was delayed for almost two hours after some administration congressmen, who are members of the investigating committee, questioned the rules to be imposed during the hearings.
Surigao del Sur Representative Prospero Pichay argued that the committee approved the rules without consulting other members of the committee.
Pichay insisted that in setting up rules for every House inquiry, it should have the approval of majority of the House members. He wanted to discuss the rules first before they would proceed with the investigation.
He said his action was not meant to delay but to regulate the proceedings.
Bukidnon Representative Juan Miguel Zubiri also questioned the use of the House Plenary Hall for the hearing and suggested that the forum be held at the Andaya Hall.
Zubiri said the sanctity of the plenary hall should be protected from possible chaos that might arise from a dispute between pro-Arroyo and anti-Arroyo groups who would attend the hearing.
However, the chair of the five-committee and Cavite Representative Gilbert Remulla said Zubiri's suggestion would be discussed in the course of the proceedings.
The House inquiry on wiretapping was also interrupted by a heated altercation between marshals of the Lower House and opposition representatives who were allegedly stopped from entering the session hall.
The House marshals accused the group of Linggoy Alcuaz, a supporter of the late former opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., of giving out copies of CDs to the people inside the session hall. Alcuaz denied the accusation and said it was another group that distributed the CDs.
Remulla has set the next hearing Wednesday at 1 p.m. wherein he asked Bunye and Wycoco to appear again.
Those also invited in Wednesday's hearing are former NBI deputy director Samuel Ong and Estrada's lawyer Allan Paguia.
The committee will finish the investigation in three weeks and submit the committee report in 60 days. (JFF/JMR/Sunnex)
(June 22, 2005 issue)
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