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Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Senate to summon Garci; Palace keeps distance
MANILA -- A former election official who emerged from hiding to deny charges he conspired with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to rig last year's election will be summoned to appear before a Senate investigation, officials said Monday.
Former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, wanted by authorities since he disappeared at the height of the election-fraud allegations, told ABS-CBN television in an interview aired Sunday that he was willing to be investigated to prove his innocence.
Senate President Franklin Drilon appeared unconvinced, saying a committee investigating the alleged poll fraud has decided to issue a subpoena to compel Garcillano to appear before the committee on December 8.
President Arroyo's spokesman said Monday that she didn't cheat in last year's elections, following Garcillano's surfacing. Garcillano, at the center of the alleged vote-rigging, had emerged from hiding to reject charges he conspired with Arroyo to rig the elections in her favor.
"President Arroyo won fair and square in the polls and this has been validated by all institutions and observers who participated in the elections," Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said in a statement.
"Former Commissioner Garcillano can very well defend himself in any pertinent forum and we are not commenting or interfering in any way in his statement."
Allegations that Arroyo rigged last year's elections are largely based on wiretaps of phone calls in which the President is allegedly heard speaking to an election official, believed to be Garcillano, about ensuring a million-vote victory.
Arroyo has apologized for a "lapse in judgment" in talking with an election official before the results were announced, but denied influencing the outcome.
Garcillano said the president called him on May 24 last year but stressed she only asked why her lead over her closest rival, popular opposition front-runner Fernando Poe Jr., had dropped to less than a million votes.
He said there was nothing wrong in his phone conversation with Arroyo because they discussed votes that were already counted.
Most provincial election results had already been turned over to Congress for counting at the time, he said, adding that opposition candidates had also called him to discuss election developments.
"I can tell you and I swear that there was no such thing as the rigging of the last elections," Garcillano told ABS-CBN from an undisclosed location in Mindanao.
Critics say Arroyo may have broken the law by merely calling an elections official since her action could exert pressure on the official and violated the poll commission's independence.
Garcillano, who wore a Muslim head scarf in the interview, said he went into hiding because he believed that his life was in danger. He said he decided to withdraw from the public eye when he learned of the P1 million bounty offered by members of the opposition to those who could give information on his whereabouts.
Makati City Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr., chairman of one of the five committees tasked to investigate the alleged vote-rigging, said he would move for the pullout of the arrest warrant issued by the Lower House against Garcillano who had expressed willingness to face a congressional inquiry.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, also the presidential spokesman, said the Palace would no longer comment or interfere with any of Garcillano's statements or plans.
"Former commissioner Garcillano can very well defend himself in any pertinent forum and we are not commenting or interfering in any way with his statements," he said.
Presidential adviser for political affairs Gabriel Claudio said Malacañang had nothing to do with the surfacing of Gacillano and his decision to grant an interview with one television station.
Claudio said they welcome Garcillano's resurfacing and had expected him to admit that President Arroyo did talk to him during the election period "not because it's scripted or we talked to him, but because what he said was the truth."
At the Senate, Senator Panfilo Lacson denied he plotted to kill Garcillano.
Lacson said if there is anyone who wants to have Garcillano alive, it is him because he is one of the victims of alleged electoral fraud last year. "It is absurd that I was after his (Garcillano) neck. It is my interest to find him alive so that he could answer all the questions behind the election cheating," he said.
He said Garcillano's claim about a threat to his life was part of a script prepared by Malacañang. He said the Palace staged the coming out of the Comelec official to "tell lies and accuse some critics of anything just to absolve President Arroyo from the crimes she committed to the people."
Lacson also denied that the opposition offered a P1 million reward to those who could give information on Garcillano's whereabouts. He said it was the House of Representatives that initiated the offer for his immediate arrest.
The senator also said Garcillano should answer why he left the country and went to Singapore to escape the House investigation.
Cavite Representative Gilbert Remulla, who led the House investigation on the alleged wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and Garcillano, said they would exert every effort to prove that the ex-poll official was lying when he claimed that he never left the country at the height of the controversy.
Remulla said the opposition already has a copy of a certification coming from Singaporean authorities and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirming that Garcillano left the country and arrived in Singapore sometime in July of this year.
He said Garcillano arrived there on July 14 and left a day after for the United Kingdom. The former elections official left the country at the time the Arroyo administration was facing public outrage because of the controversial "Hello Garci" tapes.
On Garcillano's claim that there was nothing wrong with President Arroyo calling him over poll matters, the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (Codal) said this was incorrect.
Neri Colmenares, spokesperson for Codal, said as the appointing authority, the President was in a very influential position over Garcillano and a simple request from her would appear like a command to the ex-poll official.
He said the crimes committed by Garcillano and President Arroyo go beyond the mere "talking" with each other. He said their conversations in the "Hello Garci" tape were crimes in themselves under the Revised Penal Code, Omnibus Election Code, Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, "Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees", and the 1987 Constitution. (JMR/JFF//DBP/MSN/Sunnex/With AP)
(November 29, 2005 issue)
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