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Thursday, December 01, 2005
Lawyer says ex-poll official to attend inquiry
By Stephen Capillas
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- The lawyer of former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano said his client "will show up" in Congress hearings on alleged poll fraud in last year's presidential vote.
"Or else you can detain me," added lawyer Ed Tamondong in his assurance to the congressional committees investigating alleged wiretapped conversations between Garcillano and President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the rigging of last year's elections.
Five House committees investigating the "Hello Garci" controversy will resume hearing on December 7 while the Senate committee on national defense and security will hold its inquiry on December 8. Both chambers are hoping that Garcillano will show up and answer their queries.
If Garcillano does appear in the Senate and House hearings, the Northern Mindanao chapter of The Gloria Step Down! Movement (GSM) is daring him to tell the truth.
If not before these two bodies, Bukidnon Representative Teofisto Guingona III said Garcillano can always present himself before the Citizens' Congress for Truth and Accountability or the "People's Court" and make his testimony.
Cagayan de Oro Representative Constantino Jaraula said Garcillano could be cited for perjury if it is proved that he went abroad contrary to his earlier claim that he only stayed in Mindanao.
Earlier reports said Garcillano managed to disguise himself as an engineer to secure the means to travel outside the country, a claim denied by foreign affairs officials.
At the Senate, Senator Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the security committee, said they would also ask former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy director Samuel Ong and Technical Sergeant Vidal Doble of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to testify in the inquiry.
Biazon said they are willing to give protection and immunity to the trio if they would cooperate with the Senate in the investigation.
Garcillano earlier said he was ready to face any congressional hearing on the audiotapes controversy to refute allegations that he conspired with President Arroyo to rig last year's elections.
Ong, whose lawyer Homobono Adaza assured the appearance of the former NBI official in any proper forum, had said he has the "mother of all tapes" of the wiretapped conversations allegedly between Garcillano and Arroyo.
Doble, on the other hand, was the one who allegedly wiretapped the conversations.
The House committees had agreed to lift the warrant of arrest issued against Garcillano so he could appear in the hearing without fear of being arrested.
Amid allegations that Garcillano's surfacing was scripted, Malacañang insisted it had nothing to do with the decision of Garcillano to come out, make statements about the controversy in media interviews, or testify in any public hearing on the issue.
Guingona said despite Garcillano's statements exonerating Arroyo, the offer of GSM, a national network of anti-Arroyo groups, to provide the ex-poll officer sanctuary still stands.
Guingona said they don't believe that Garcillano came out, after months in hiding, just to exonerate Arroyo from rigging the last elections.
"He could have said that earlier on and saved himself some trouble. The truth is, he went into hiding, and, for that, a badge of falsehood hangs on his chest," said Guingona. (Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro/Sunnex)
(December 1, 2005 issue)
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