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Thursday, November 17, 2005
5 House committees disown 'Hello Garci' report
MANILA -- The five House committees that looked into the "Hello Garci" tapes controversy refused Wednesday to acknowledge investigation findings that said Malacañang initiated a grand cover-up on the inquiry.
Cavite Representative Gilbert Remulla, chairman of the house committee on public information, said the five committees could not confirm the "leaked" findings published in two national dailies since they are not yet done with the report.
He added it would take them at least one more week to finalize the report before committee members would vote on it.
Remulla denied that he was the one who leaked the report.
He said he would never do such a thing since under the House rules, "raw committee reports" should never be made public as it is still subject to changes.
"Excuse me. Please lang (Oh please). Hindi ko kagagawan yun (I did not do that). We distributed 156 copies of the committee report to the members and that means there were 156 chances for a leak. Hindi ko control yun (That was beyond my control)," he said in a text message.
Other committee chairmen said they were still in the process of debating what should come out in the final report. They too said it would take at least one more week before the report was finished.
Administration congressmen, some opposition members said, would exert every effort to modify or to water down the supposed committee report to make President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her government appear less guilty or not guilty at all.
Akbayan Muna party-list Representative Risa Hontiveros Baraquel said they are expecting some "magic" to happen once the official committee report is released, claiming that administration congressmen would not allow the Arroyo administration to be further put in a bad light.
Deputy House minority leader Rolex Suplico, for his part, said some members of the committees are now making "substantial" changes in the report after what happened.
He also expressed belief that such changes would water down the supposed earlier findings.
Suplico said he believes that Malacañang would even dip its hands in the official committee report to acquit Arroyo.
Remulla, meanwhile, said he along with other chairmen and members of the five committees are hoping they would be able to come up with a conclusion or recommendation that could spur more inquiries.
He reiterated that missing former election official Virgilio Garcillano should still be brought before Congress, which had ordered his arrest.
Administration congressmen Jose Solis (Sorsogon) and Benasing Macarambon (Lanao del Sur) admitted they would not allow a committee report that would put the Arroyo administration in a bad light.
Macarambon even pointed out that obviously it was someone from the opposition who leaked the report. "Definitely we will not do it, especially if such would hurt the administration," Macarambon said.
Solis, for his part, said the supposed report was "too presumptuous", claiming that any findings should have been brought to the attention of the committee members first being made public.
Remulla added that the five committees are also now exerting efforts to determine who leaked the report, based on the control numbers of the draft copies. He hinted that the culprit could be even charged before the House committee on ethics for disregarding House rules. (DBP/Sunnex)
(November 17, 2005 issue)
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