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Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Police tighten security for ex-poll official
MANILA -- Police have beefed up security for former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, who is staying at the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City due to threats to his life.
Chief Superintendent Eduardo Doromal, chief of the Police Security and Protection Office (Poso), said Monday that 24 police officers have been detailed to the office of National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Vidal Querol, where Garcillano is temporarily billeted.
Four other policemen are with the former elections official at any given time, he added.
Doromal said security for Garcillano, who has been accused of rigging the 2004 presidential polls in favor of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, will remain for as long as there is a threat to his safety. Garcillano has been.
In Malacañang, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, who is also the presidential spokesman, said they expect Garcillano to vindicate President Arroyo when he testifies before Congress on Wednesday.
"We are confident that former commissioner Garcillano is prepared to tell the truth and it shall vindicate the President and put the mind of the people at rest. The people have been wanting to hear from him, so let us give him a chance to say his piece," Bunye said.
The archbishop of Cebu, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, has appealed to the public not to prejudge Garcillano and instead listen to what he has to say. He said the public should hear first the former elections official's account on audiotapes of wiretapped conversations allegedly between him and Arroyo talking about rigging the presidential polls.
"The search for truth, which the public wanted to hear, could only be attained if we permit Garcillano to speak and not jump to conclusion on allegations of cheating, lying, and stealing in last year's elections," he said.
Doromal said no one is allowed to visit Garcillano without clearance from him and the former Comelec commissioner. He said Garcillano is free to use a cellular phone if he wants to talk to someone and leave the police camp if he has to attend an important affair.
Garcillano was scheduled to transfer Monday night from the national capital police chief's office to another police quarters inside the Camp Bagong Diwa.
Doromal assured strict security for Garcillano when they take him to the House of Representatives on Wednesday and to the Senate on Thursday to attend hearings on allegations linking him to fraud in last year's elections.
Garcillano arrived in Manila Sunday to face Congressional hearings on the "Hello Garci" controversy, which centers on the audiotapes of his alleged conversations with Arroyo.
Eddie Tamondong, lawyer for Garcillano, had said his client would appear in the House and Senate hearings.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said President Arroyo is too busy running the country to be distracted by the return of Garcillano to Manila and his impending appearance in Congress.
Ermita and Bunye reiterated that as far as Malacañang is concerned, the results of the 2004 elections showed that Arroyo won fair and square.
Presidential Security Group (PSG) commander Delfin Bangit denied they were providing security to Garcillano, who arrived in Manila Sunday.
He said their mandate includes providing security for the President and the First Family. He said there were no orders from the President to secure Garcillano and they were not involved in the security preparations and the supposed special treatment accorded to the former commissioner.
Bunye denied knowledge of the reported visit of Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. to Garcillano Sunday night. He said that if Ebdane indeed visited Garcillano, the public works chief is already old enough to know what he is doing.
Ebdane was earlier reported to have escorted Garcillano out of the country. His visit to the former commissioner came at the heels of the pronouncement of Presidential adviser for political affairs Gabriel Claudio that the administration is being careful with their statements or actions pertaining to Garcillano, to avoid suspicions that everything that has occurred and is happening is part of a grand plan.
Vidal, meanwhile, said he could not be certain if Garillano would tell the whole truth when he testifies in Congress.
Asked if Garcillano's surfacing would make the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) reconsider its July 10 pastoral statement on the country's political crisis, he said it would still depend on what he would have to say.
The CBCP had spurned calls for the resignation of Arroyo and instead called for independent investigations of the charges made against her. (JFF/JMR/MSN/Sunnex)
(December 6, 2005 issue)
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