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Monday, June 27, 2005
Oro mayor admits being victim of tape case
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- The wiretapped conversation that allegedly occurred between President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and poll commissioner Virgilio Garcilliano may possibly be manufactured in order to sow public animosity against the President.
Cagayan de Oro Mayor Vicente Emano mentioned this angle as the debate on whether Arroyo should break her silence on the alleged conversation between her and Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Garcilliano showed no signs of respite.
Citing his own experience, Emano said the voices in the wiretapped conversation could have been manufactured elsewhere using the latest technology.
Emano said a fake voice sounding like his own was taped, spliced and broadcasted in local radio stations supposedly to demolish his candidacy.
The fake voice, he said, made it appear that he prayed to Satan for victory in the elections.
The mayor also took exception to claims by former vice mayor Antonio Soriano that Garcilliano could have manipulated the votes in Cagayan de Oro to let him win convincingly in last year's polls.
"I only met Garcilliano back in 1995 when I was still governor of the province. I was then dislodged from my post a few years later after (then gubernatorial aspirant) Ruthie Guingona won the case before the Comelec," he said in a radio interview.
If it happened to him, the mayor said it could also happen to the president who is facing a legion of enemies from the defeated opposition and the leftist groups.
Nothing illegal
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte also admitted that he once had a conversation with President Arroyo very similar to that of the controversial alleged taped conversation between the President and Garcilliano.
In his weekly television program, Duterte said he is certain that Arroyo also had the same line of conversation with other political leaders during the May 2004 elections.
The mayor said there is however nothing illegal about their conversations since Arroyo was merely asking of her chances in winning in Davao City.
"She asked me, 'Rody, hindi na ba talaga pwedeng madagdagan ang boto ko diyan (Rody, can't anything be done to add to my votes)?'" Duterte recalled.
The mayor said Arroyo was referring to her possible vote margin over her closest political rival, the late Fernando Poe, Jr., in the local surveys.
Duterte said if a person has no idea of the nature of their conversation one would think they were planning to pad votes.
The mayor said the same is true with the controversial tape.
"The conversation is really subject to equivocal interpretation," Duterte said.
Duterte, however, assured the public that Arroyo never requested him to commit election fraud adding that he would never do such a thing no matter who asks him. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(June 27, 2005 issue)
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