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Thursday, June 23, 2005
Arroyo aide pinned on 'inconsistent' remarks
MANILA -- Congressmen pounded press secretary and presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye's "inconsistent" statements on his comments regarding the alleged wiretapped conversation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with a former poll official.
Three lawyers plan to ask the Supreme Court to stop the ongoing House investigation being conducted by five committees because it is being used as forum to wage an attack on the Arroyo administration instead of aiding of legislation.
At the Senate, two senators want the House inquiry stopped for being chaotic as one of them suggested that an independent commission do the investigation instead.
During the House hearing, administration and opposition congressmen assailed Bunye for issuing answers to questions with regard to the two compact discs (CDs) that allegedly contained the President's controversial conversation that conflicted with his statements last June 6 when he held a media briefing in Malacañang on the same issue.
Bunye reiterated that he does not know the source of the audiotapes as the items were just brought by someone to his ancestral home in Alabang, Muntinlupa City in the morning of June 6 and was subsequently brought by his aide to his office in Malacañang in the afternoon.
He said the broadcast by radio station dzMM of the CDs prompted him to release the tape in public so that the people would know the truth about it. He said the release of the CDs was a defensive move after it was aired by radio station dzMM.
He added that his plan was to bring the CDs to the National Bureau Investigation (NBI) so that the agency could analyze it.
Bunye said he informed the President about the two CDs in his possession before and after the press conference. He also said he heard a woman's voice on the audiotapes and that it sounded like the President but he could be wrong.
"My June 6 statements were just initial impressions and I could have been wrong," he said.
Asked as to the authenticity of the audiotapes, Bunye said the NBI is analyzing the audio recordings and Malacañang has yet to receive any report from the investigation agency.
Opposition congressmen insisted that in his statements last June 6, Bunye implied that he knew the source of the audiotapes when he was quoted as saying "she does not want to come out and to be identified at this time." Bunye was then referring to the source of the audiotapes.
House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said an NBI agent named Reynaldo Esmeralda could be the source of the audiotapes, which Bunye had denied.
Escudero asked Bunye if the President had talked to former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the May 2004 elections, the secretary said he had no personal knowledge if Arroyo then chatted with the former election official.
When asked by Batangas Representative Hermilando Mandanas about the contents of the President's conversations on the CDs, Bunye said there was nothing illegal in the chat.
Bunye said some people are just projecting there was an electoral fraud so that there would be justification to bring down the Arroyo government.
"The conversations on CDs could be innocuous. There was no election fraud. President Arroyo won the May 2004 presidential elections. The wiretapping is part of the attempts to discredit the President," he said.
He added that people behind the plot to oust Arroyo are capitalizing on the President's low popularity and financial crisis in the country.
Escudero challenged Bunye to name those behind the destabilization against the government but the press secretary maintained: "We have intelligence reports that the wiretapping controversy is being used to overthrow the Arroyo Government."
Cavite Representative Crispin Remulla, for his part, dismissed Bunye's statements that he made a judgment call when he held a press conference last June 6 and named Arroyo as one of the voices in the tape.
Remulla questioned the secretary's intent in releasing the CDs as he is the presidential spokesman, and nobody could coerce him from revealing such information. He also said it would be hard to believe it that Bunye did not consult the President about his release of the CDs as he speaks in behalf of Arroyo.
Asked by San Juan Representative Ronaldo Zamora if he advised Arroyo to speak up on the wiretapping issue, Bunye said the President would not dignify the audiotapes by giving a comment because it was taken illegally but she will speak up about it in an appropriate time.
Quezon City Representative Maite Defensor, during the hearing, informed Bunye that a group called Voice Identification Group already authenticated the audiotapes and it concluded that the voices in the tape belong to President Arroyo and Garcillano.
Defensor asked the press secretary if he would advise the President to admit or deny the voice of a woman on the CDs, Bunye said his job as presidential spokesperson is to articulate the stand of the President.
Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teodoro Casino asked the chairmen of the five committees to provide every member a copy of Bunye's transcript in relation to his June 6 media conference for them to see the whole picture.
Former NBI deputy director Samuel Ong, who was one of the resource persons in Wednesday's wiretapping hearing, did not appear allegedly because of threats to his life.
Cavite Representative Gilbert Remulla, who is the lead chair in the investigation, said the five chairmen of the committees will meet to discuss how to provide protection to Ong so that he could appear in the next hearing.
Ong was invited to appear in the hearing along with Bunye, NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco and former President Joseph Estrada's lawyer Allan Paguia.
Paranaque Representative Eduardo Zialcita questioned Ong's reason for not showing in the hearing, saying the committees should not tolerate Ong's excuses because other witnesses or resource persons during the House inquiry might do the same thing.
Makati City Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr., one of the committee chairmen, said they would recommend to House Speaker Jose de Venecia to sign a subpoena so that it would force Ong to attend the hearing.
Late Wednesday afternoon, an argument arose among the members of the committees when Cebu Representative Clavel Asas-Martinez got irritated by Bunye's response to her question if he heard on the audiotapes about Cebu being mentioned as among the places where election fraud allegedly transpired.
To recall, Cebu was one of the places that contributed to Arroyo's million-vote lead and victory over the late movie icon Fernando Poe Jr.
Martinez, an administration congresswoman, said she has copies of the audiotapes and she will submit the items in the committee Thursday.
"I'll submit my copies of the audiotapes to the committees because I want the truth to come out," she said.
Negros Oriental Representative Jacinto Paras asked for Martinez's audiotapes to be played during the hearing but it was objected to by Maguindanao Representative Simeon Datumanong and other administration congressmen.
Surigao del Sur Representative Prospero Pichay asked the committee chairmen to quash the motion to play the tape because it is irrelevant.
The opposition congressmen said if Martinez was not yet ready to present her audiotapes, they would present theirs so that the people would now hear it.
Remulla assured members of the committee that the audiotapes would be played during the proceedings.
At the Department of Justice (DOJ), lawyers Romeo Igot, Ariel Joseph Arias and Marcial Magsino announced that they will file a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to restrain the ongoing congressional hearing.
They said the congressional hearing is being turned into a forum for opposition congressmen to ventilate their stand against Arroyo.
Under the law, he said, Congress can only proceed with the investigation in aid of legislation. "They are using the congressional probe to really wage propaganda against the administration."
He also said the alleged audio-compact discs containing the alleged wiretapped conversation should be junked to end the long and winding issue of wiretapping and alleged electoral fraud.
"Saan ba galing yung tape? Sino ang may gawa? Hindi yan maganda sa bayan, we should forget about it, ibasura na lang (Where did that tape come from? Who made it? That is not good for the country, we should forget about it and throw it away)," he said.
During interviews, the complainants denied that they are "lawyering" for the President, saying their action was merely to bring the investigation of controversies in government at the proper forum.
"What we need is have a proper investigation, bring it to the proper forum and in that forum we must reveal all the evidence that has to be revealed. What we want is to have the right process in this case. Di yung magsusulsol tayo sa mga tao (Not that we will be bribed by other people as) that will result to a bigger crisis in the future," said Arias.
He said Arroyo and Garcillano should be given due process. But since the president has immunity from suit, Garcillano should come out in the open and tell the truth about the tapes to end all speculations. He said he is even willing to offer his legal services in case the embattled poll official does come out.
Eventually, he said, the President has to come out, otherwise the situation will exacerbate.
Meanwhile, Senator Edgardo Angara said the nation is in "state of limbo" and at the edge of a "political turbulence" so it is better for an independent body to investigate the tape issue.
"The investigation can be conducted by an independent third body chosen or acting under the rules and regulations laid down jointly by the Senate and the House of Representatives," Angara said.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, for her part, described the House inquiry as "chaotic" so that it should be terminated immediately.
Santiago said since the Lower House has started the investigation, it already admitted that the tape was obtained from a wiretapping system.
"If the representatives continue what they did, the House investigation can be stopped by a petition for certiorari or prohibition, on the ground that since the House is exercising quasi-judicial functions, it is acting with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction," Santiago said.
She said for the House to admit as evidence any alleged wiretap tape without a court order would be illegal.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, for his part, said Malacañang expected the antics of both the opposition and the administration during the start of the House hearing.
Ermita said the Palace knew that there were plans by the opposition to carry the issue to a higher level of debate. He said the perceived stonewalling by the administration is part of the culture in Congress and that "it is not uncommon for many members to first iron out the rules."
He said Malacañang is confident in the ability of Press Secretary Bunye to handle and acquit himself before the House joint committees. He said Bunye knows the facts behind the wiretapped CDs, is credible, and is a former congressmen.
However, he said the time will come when the hearings would have to stop so the country could move forward.
Ermita said it is all right with him to play the controversial wiretapped conversations but said that it is up to Congress to make the decision. "I will be biased if I say I don't want them to play it but it's their business," he said.
But Environment Secretary and political spokesman Michael Defensor said they should not be played because it would be like "maligning" the Office of the President and President Arroyo.
He also said it will open the floodgates to wiretapping of other people's telephone chat. (JFF/ECV/JPM/JMR/Sunnex)
(Reposted with correction in the headline)
(June 23, 2005 issue)
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