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Friday, July 15, 2005
Wiretapped chat links Erap to slay, poll plot
MANILA -- Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson came out Thursday with his own version of a wiretapped conversation, this time implicating deposed president Joseph Estrada and Senator Panfilo Lacson.
The two were allegedly part of a plot to topple the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and replace it with a transition government to be headed by former President Fidel Ramos.
But Ramos, according to the plot, would later be assassinated to pave the way for the return of Estrada to the presidency. Arroyo was also allegedly targeted for assassination.
The alleged conversation between Estrada and former Armed Forces chief of staff General Joselin Nazareno include plans to rig the polls in Mindanao during the national elections last year.
However, Lacson told reporters that the portion of the recording that mentioned his name had been spliced. He challenged Malacañang to get a reputable voice identification firm to prove that it is authentic.
Malacañang, though, disowned any participation in the release of the wiretapped phone conversation. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said he learned only of Singson's claim from news reports.
During a press conference at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City, Singson gave out to media 20 compact discs that contained Estrada's recorded chat with a man he identified as Nazareno. The two allegedly talked about a plan to remove "pandak" (short) from the presidency and replace her with a transition government to be headed by "tanda" (old person).
Singson said the CDs were given to him last Wednesday by a man who he refused to identify.
The governor believes the "pandak" mentioned could be Arroyo as the opposition used such a term to describe the President.
He, however, said he was not sure if "tanda" referred to Ramos.
Singson said Estrada's talk with Nazareno was part of the audiotapes of the wiretapped conversation allegedly between Arroyo and former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, but it was deleted by the opposition.
He said the recorded discussion between Estrada and Nazareno happened a day before and after the May 10, 2004 presidential elections.
But Estrada's son, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, said the release of Chavit's tape was meant to divert the public's attention from the political crisis to his father.
"I don't believe that it came from the so-called 'mother of all tapes' due to the absence of the voice of Garcillano," Jinggoy said.
Estrada's spokesman, Didagen Dilangalen, wondered how Estrada could have been wiretapped since the former president is not allowed to use any phone in his rest house in Tanay, Rizal where he is under house arrest.
Singson, who helped topple Estrada in 2001 by exposing the former president's was getting jueteng payoffs, said Estrada and Nazareno also discussed the results of the election in Mindanao where the late presidential bet Fernando Poe Jr. lost.
Nazareno was military chief during Estrada's regime.
Singson said he plans to submit the tape to the National Bureau of Investigation.
The "Garci tapes" have provoked calls for the President's resignation or impeachment over allegations she cheated to get elected.
Senate President Franklin Drilon is confident that the impeachment complaint against Arroyo in the House of Representative will prosper, especially if the 34 members of the Liberal Party in the Lower Chamber will take a common position to impeach the President.
Drilon, who used to be an Arroyo ally, said they support the impeachment of Arroyo as another option should she refuse to step down from the presidency.
Opponents of Arroyo admitted that street protests are unlikely to topple the chief executive, but they believe they can win enough support to impeach her.
"Basically, for the first time, the numbers are moving towards our direction. We will be starting the impeachment process with a really substantial number," said Rep. Ronaldo Zamora.
Representative Joey Salceda, an Arroyo ally, was quoted in a national daily that the opposition was already assured of 73 of the required 79 votes to hear the impeachment complaint.
Zamora said the opposition was strengthening an impeachment complaint previously filed by activist lawyer Oliver Lozano and would present it to the House of Representatives by July 22.
At least one-third of members of the House must vote in favor of impeachment before the case goes to the Senate for trial. (PNA/AFP/Manila Standard Today/Sunnex)
(July 15, 2005 issue)
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