Political Updates

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IF there’s such a thing as a "smoking tape," this is not the one. This one’s a dud.

Chavit Singson and rocker RJ Jacinto could have done a better job by getting professional advice from one of the music pirates at Makati Cinema Square, sound experts whom we talked to say. The alleged phone call, all of 41 seconds where Estrada supposedly plots the assassination of Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is "such an amateur job that the pirates are considering suing them," quips Gerry Kaimo, an audiophile and independent record producer.

We know this CD is spurious and are only making the "Chavit X-Tapes" downloadable from this blog for your weekend entertainment pleasure. We like to second Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s proposal that all those who have wiretapped tapes have only until July 31 to make them available to the public. Please let us know ASAP so we can get more bandwidth and make it easier for our readers to download them.

The "Chavit X-Tapes" CD contains seven tracks of recordings. Tracks 3, 4 , and 7 are supposedly post-election conversations between former Pres. Joseph Estrada and former Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Joselin Nazareno. Two of these (tracks 4 and 7) are the same conversation (the first longer by four seconds).

All but one track — Track No. 6 — in the recorded conversations appear to be genuine. If that is the case, then it would seem that Estrada was wiretapped, possibly by ISAFP. But most of the conversations in the X-Tapes are innocouous and pathetic, as an imprisoned Erap sounded dejected about the bad news of his friend FPJ’s loss in many areas in Mindanao.

Sound experts we consulted are saying that the 6th track is “too clean” to be considered genuine. “The whole thing is made up. It is likely that those who made this got splices of Erap’s voice to fit into a script.”

Kaimo is even doubtful. He points to the noticeable hiss in the unidentified Estrada caller’s conversation, but which disappears in Erap’s part. The hiss, he says, could either come from radio frequency interference (airwaves) or electromagnetic interference (existence of electrical appliances). But the suspiciously silent background noise could just as well point to an empty room or recording studio (Was there any coincidence why RJ Jacinto was with Singson during his presscon yesterday?).

Kaimo likewise observed that the man Estrada is talking to sounds like he is reading from his notes.

Carefully listening to the tracks, we also noticed that some of Erap’s utterances — “Ano, ano?” “Uhm” and “Ok, ok, sige” — could very well have been taken from the almost six-minute track containing the conversation between Estrada and Nazareno given very similar intonations in Estrada’s voice. Check for yourself the following timecodes in track 4 (or 7): 2:52 (for “Ano, ano?”), 4:14 (“Uhm”) and 5:53 (“Ok, ok, sige”).

 

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THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) refused today to join calls for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the wake of the controversies stemming from the juetenggate and Garci tapes.

In a pastoral letter read by Davao archbishop and CBCP president Fernando Capalla, the CBCP said, however, the president should not dismiss calls of other groups for her resignation.

Instead, they said, President Arroyo should discern deeply her contribution to the erosion of effective governance and asked her to prayerfully search her heart for remedies in addressing the political crisis.

The bishops pointed out that the political crisis has polarized the people and may lead certain sectors to entertain a power grab.

Echoing a pastoral letter issued by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales that the president�s June 27 apology for a �lapse in judgment� in calling a Comelec official was not enough, the CBCP said, "Beyond apology is accountability."

The bishops called for a thorough, credible and independent process of authenticating the Garci tapes and verifying allegations of corruption, electoral fraud, wiretapping, jueteng payoffs and other possible betrayals of public trust.

The CBCP likewise appealed to the people not to resort to any extraconstitutional measures, to reject calls for juntas and revolutionary governments, and to not embrace violence. The bishops clearly stated their preference for constitutional processes like impeachment and the creation of a Truth Commission.

The CBCP statement came after a two-day meeting, during which the draft underwent several revisions.

The bishops said the delay was not the result of a division within their ranks but arose from the difficult subject � a beleaguered presidency no less � they had to deal with. They said the process of coming up with their statement was done with great �sadness and anxiety.�

Restoring Trust: A Plea for Moral Values in Philippine Politics

The Pastoral Situation

1. As a people we seem to have passed from crisis to crisis in one form or another. For many analysts, reinforcing these crises are ambivalent cultural values such as palakasan, pakikisama, utang na loob, and family-centeredness. As Bishops we have long contended that the crises that we have suffered are basically moral � the lack of moral values in ourselves, in our relationships in our social structures.

2. Today we are beset with yet another political crisis of such magnitude as to polarize our people and attract them to various options ranging from the extreme right to the extreme left. In this grave situation, various groups take advantage of one another, manipulate situations for their own agenda and create confusion among our people sometimes by projecting speculation or suspicion as proven fact, with the aim of grabbing power.

3. At the center of the crisis is the issue of moral value, particularly the issue of trust. The people mistrust our economic institutions which place them under the tyranny of market forces whose lack of moral compass produces for our people a life of grinding, dehumanizing poverty. They also mistrust yet another key institution � our political system. This mistrust is not recent. For a long time now, while reveling in political exercises, our people have shown a lack of trust in political personalities, practices and processes. Elections are often presumed tainted rather than honest. Congressional and senate hearings are sometimes narrowly confined to procedural matters and often run along party lines. Politics has not effectively responded to the needs of the poor and marginalized.

4. This question of trust in national institutions has taken a critical urgency with the resignation of some key Cabinet members, the realignment of political parties and the creation of new alliances. Amid this realignment of forces we commend the clear official stand of our military and police authorities who reiterated their loyalty to our Constitution that forbids them from engaging in partisan politics.

5. Moreover within academe, business, professional and civil society varied positions have been taken with regard to President Macapagal-Arroyo. Some want her to resign; others want her to go through due process. Some want a Truth Commission. Others impeachment. Some want a constitutional process and others an extra-constitutional process. On the other hand there is also a wide manifestation of support for the chief executive by a cross section of society.

6. Today we ask ourselves, �As Bishops what can we offer to our people? Can we provide some clarity and guidance in the present confusing situation?� We can only answer these questions from who we are. We are not politicians who are to provide a political blueprint to solve political problems. Rather we are Bishops called by the Lord to shepherd the people in the light of faith. With Pope Benedict XVI we do not believe in the �intrusion into politics on the part of the hierarchy.� But we are to interpret human activities such as economics and politics from the moral and religious point of view, from the point of view of the Gospel of Jesus and of the Kingdom of God. We are to provide moral and religious guidance to our people. This is what we offer in the present crisis. Not to do would be an abdication of our duty.

Our Pastoral Role and our Stand

7. In the welter of conflicting opinions and positions our role is not to point out a specific political option or a package of options as the Gospel choice, especially so when such an option might be grounded merely on a speculative and highly controvertible basis. In the present situation we believe that no single concrete option regarding President Macapagal-Arroyo can claim to be the only one demanded by the Gospel. Therefore, in a spirit of humility and truth, we declare our prayerfully discerned collective decision that we do not demand her resignation. Yet neither do we encourage her simply to dismiss such a call from others. For we recognize that nonviolent appeals for her resignation, the demand for a Truth Commission and the filing of an impeachment case are not against the Gospel.

8. In all these we remind ourselves that a just political and moral order is best promoted under the present circumstances by a clear and courageous preference for constitutional processes that flow from moral values and the natural law. Hence, we also appeal to the people, especially their representatives and leaders, to discern their decisions not in terms of political loyalties but in the light of the Gospel values of truth, justice and the common good. We urge our people in our parish and religious communities, our religious organizations and movements, our Basic Ecclesial Communities to come and pray together, reason, decide and act together always to the end the will of God prevail in the political order. People of good will and credibility who hold different political convictions should come together and dialogue in order to help move the country out of its present impasse. We believe with Pope Benedict XVI that through prayer the Filipino people and their political representatives and leaders, guided by moral principles, are capable of arriving at decisions for the common good that are based not only political realities but above all on moral precepts.

9. Yet having said this we wish to subject specific situations to moral inquiry to guide our people in deepening their moral discernment.

Restoring Moral Values

10. On Moral Accountability: �Political authority is accountable to the people. Those who govern have the obligation to answer to the governed.� (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 40 cool . President Macapagal-Arroyo has admitted and apologized for a �lapse of judgment� for calling a COMELEC official. The admission further eroded the people�s trust on the already suspected electoral system and raised serious questions on the integrity of the elections. Beyond apology is accountability. Indeed, with forgiveness is justice. To restore trust would require a thorough, credible and independent process to examine the authenticity of the so-called Garcillano tapes, verify any possible betrayal of public trust, and mete out due punishment on all those found guilty. Punishment should also be imposed those duly found guilty of corruption and illegal acts, such as jueteng and wiretapping. Moral accountability calls for radical reforms in various agencies of government to make them more responsive to the requirement of integrity as well as to the needs of the poor.

11. On Constitutionality: In the present crisis some calls are being made for measures that are counter-constitutional. The Constitution enshrines cherished values such as human dignity and the common good, freedom, the rule of law and due process. On this basis, we reject quick fixes that cater to selfish political agenda and advantage rather than to the common good. We deplore the attempts of those groups who seek to exploit our vulnerable national situation to create confusion and social chaos in order to seize power by unconstitutional means. We reject calls for juntas or revolutionary councils. Our political leaders have to be the first to observe and faithfully implement the Constitution. Resolving the crisis has to be within the framework of the Constitution and the laws of the land so as to avoid social chaos, the further weakening of political systems and greater harm in the future.

12. On Non-Violence: Violent solutions, as Pope Paul VI taught us, �produce new injustices, throw more elements out of balance, and bring on new disasters� (Populorum Progressio, 31). There are today, on different sides of the social and political spectrum, those who would instigate violence in order to promote their own agenda or causes. We reject the use of force and violence as a solution to our problems. Such cannot be an option of the Gospel, for we know that Jesus the Lord taught a Gospel of love and non-violence.

13. On Effective Governance: �Public authority in order to promote the common good�requires also that authority be effective in attaining that end� (Pacem in Terris ch. IV). Together with competence, personal integrity is one of the most necessary requirements of a leader. Ineffective governance may be due to a lack of personal integrity, of lack of competence. It could also be a result of a confluence of factors that have eroded trust and credibility and hence effectiveness. In our present situation we recognize that blame could be attributed to many even to all of us. Yet we would ask the President to discern deeply to what extent she might have contributed to the erosion of effective governance and whether the erosion is so severe as to be irreversible. In her heart she has to make the necessary decision for the sake of the country. We all need to do the same. Indeed, moral discernment is very difficult since it is not based on political allegiances and alignments but on moral considerations.

Conclusion

14. Dear People of God, sadness and anxiety were our feelings when we as Bishops first met to study the various aspects of the crisis. To confront the fears and hopelessness that are daily companions of our poor is to realize that we of the Church likewise contributed to them by our neglect, our bias, our selfishness.

15. To respond to the personal situation we commit ourselves to a more effective evangelization in word and deed so that moral values might become dynamic forces of human life in economics, politics, and culture. We especially commit ourselves to the formation of men and women endowed with competence and integrity and empowered the effective leadership in the economic and political spheres. With the Gospel of truth, justice, peace and love in their hearts they might, indeed, be a leaven of social transformation for our country.

 

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DESPITE Malaca�ang�s statement to the contrary, President Arroyo�s former economic managers strongly suspect the Palace had a hand in delaying the implementation of the expanded value-added tax law (VAT) to draw attention away from the scandals the chief executive is mired in.

Two weeks before the law was to take effect on July 1 and as the political crisis hounding her presidency deepened, Mrs. Arroyo was busy making calls to members of her economic team to discuss the possibility of postponing the implementation of the e-VAT law.



All of them advised her against it. One of them said, �That�s the worst thing you can do. VAT is the best thing you�ve done in reforming the tax structure.� The president was reminded that the financial market placed a lot of importance on track record.

The economic managers also assured Mrs. Arroyo that they were poised to put in place measures to mitigate the price increases that were expected to follow because of the expanded VAT.

They were thus surprised when the Supreme Court issued last July 1 a temporary restraining order on the new VAT law. Former Cabinet members said Cesar Purisima, who as finance secretary was in charge of the revenue-generating agencies, became visibly upset when the high court�s order was not even taken up in the Cabinet meeting held later in the day.

�Normally it would have been the top agenda,� an ex-Cabinet member explained. �But there was no indignation or concern at all from the President and some members of the Cabinet that day.�

Several former Cabinet secretaries also found it strange that the President and her legal counsels were not mobilizing government lawyers to counter the TRO, leaving Purisima with no choice but to call the solicitor general himself about the legal moves.

Although Malaca�ang later released a press statement that it would defend its position on the e-VAT, the former Cabinet member said, �It was all talk.�

After the President left the July 1 Cabinet meeting, Purisima was said to have asked Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz if the Palace was behind the TRO. �Cruz jumped on him, and replied, �No, that�s not true,� the former Cabinet member recalled.

(During a private briefing for PCIJ on July 4, Ricardo Saludo, secretary to the Cabinet, denied that the Palace engineered the filing of a TRO against the tax measure. �It�s too risky to engineer something like that,� he said, explaining that the government can manage the risks in the VAT and would not risk ruffling the market. �It�s a no-brainer.�)

The following day, July 2, Trade Secretary Juan Santos reportedly called the president and asked if Malacanang had anything to do with the issuance of the TRO. An aide of the trade secretary told PCIJ, �She didn�t respond. Instead, she asked Santos: �How is the business sector taking it?��

That weekend, Purisima decided he had had enough of the Arroyo presidency. He told a group of Cabinet members that he expected the political crisis to drag on and divert the government�s attention away from addressing pressing fiscal and economic problems.

�I�m resigning,� another former Cabinet member quoted him as telling his colleagues, some of whom were to join him on July 8 in submitting their irrevocable resignation to Arroyo. �I can�t allow myself to be used; I can�t sacrifice the economy to save one person.�

Revenue Commissioner Guillermo Parayno and Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina, who shared the finance secretary�s sentiments, also decided to quit.

Purisima and several Cabinet secretaries then met with former president Corazon Aquino on July 3 to inform her of their decision and what they felt was President Arroyo�s full-time preoccupation with surviving the political crisis rather than governance. �Mrs. Aquino listened to us and was really concerned,� one of them said.

He added, �The economic problems are so great that painful measures must be taken in the next five years. But the leadership must have all the credibility to take the painful measures to get the country out of the rut.� By then, Arroyo�s trust and credibility ratings had plunged to record lows.

At that point, though, the Cabinet members had planned only on quitting and not calling on Mrs. Arroyo to resign.

The �tipping point� came after the Cabinet�s executive session on July 5 during which discussions turned to the use of �muscle� to keep Arroyo in power. (See �Portrait of a President�)

 

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IN an interview an hour ago with dzBB�s Arnold Clavio and Ali Sotto, former Comelec Chairman Christian Monsod admitted he has not heard all of the allegedly wiretapped conversations between Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and several individuals, following the May 2004 elections.

I have not heard all so I am not prepared to comment on the context.

But from what he has heard so far, Monsod told the hosts, he is certain of a few things, all of them equally important:

1. The man whose voice is recorded in almost all of the snippets of conversation is indeed Garcillano.

Clavio: Si Garcillano ho ba talaga yun?

Monsod: Ang palagay ko sya. It sounds like (him). I have verified it from my friends in the Comelec and they tell me na they�re sure it�s him. Combined with that and my own impression that it�s him, it�s likely that it�s really him.

2. While, officially, Garcillano was the commissioner-in-charge for a specific region (Southern Tagalog), he was still the de facto supervising commissioner for the region of Muslim Mindanao which was the subject of many of the taped conversations.

Sotto: Ang naririnig natin sa tape, mostly sa Mindanao, how can Garcillano be instrumental in that region when he was appointed in another region?

Monsod: The Comelec career officials and insiders know exactly what happened. That while the commissioner-in-charge is formally the Chairman, Abalos, for Muslim Mindanao, it was Commissioner Garcillano that was actually doing the supervision. Madaling malaman yan�telephone calls, trips, all that�I was informed that that�s the case. In Muslim Mindanao, in effect, the supervision was delegated by the Chairman to Garcillano.

3. It is improper for a candidate to make calls to a Comelec commissioner to discuss nonprocedural election matters.

Sotto: One of the defenses being floated around is that it�s normal for any candidate to check on his or her status: Ano ba ang lagay ko?

Monsod: During my time President Aquino never once called me. Iba yung advice. I remember in 1992 nung nag-withdraw si then Sen. (Joseph) Estrada (from the presidential race) he called me and he said, �Ano po ba ang procedure, paano ba mag-withdraw, kailan ang deadline?� and so on. That�s a proper question to ask. But to ask about the status, yung margins, I don�t think that is a question that should be asked by a candidate, particularly a president, of a Comelec commissioner that she appointed.

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Presidential vote tally

June 13, 2005 @ 2:28 pm � Filed under General, In the News, Governance

WE are posting here the final tally of votes for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the strongest contender, Fernando Poe Jr., in the May 2004 elections. The table, showing the votes by province, was prepared by the nongovernment Institute for Popular Democracy using data from the Comelec. The president beat Poe by 1,123,576 votes.

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Monsod on Comelec�s credibility
and the 2004 elections

June 11, 2005 @ 12:10 pm � Filed under General, In the News, Governance

WHEN former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod spoke about his observations of the 2004 elections at a conference a few months after the exercise, he reserved his highest praises for the men and women who worked the field�the election officials at the ground level whom, he said, "saved the 2004 process from being a disaster."

If there is a tipping point to more meaningful elections, it is in the employees and professionals of the Comelec, including the loneliest election officer in the most obscure outpost of the country.

Because these career employees performed their job honestly and well, Monsod said, the results were largely credible across the 17,000 officials who were elected.

In that same summit the Comelec, through Commissioner Resurreccion Borra, gave its own evaluation of the elections. Kind to itself, the Comelec said the elections of May 2004 were peaceful and orderly, and that the conduct of the canvassing was speedier than in many previous elections. But Borra also recognized that there were indeed "misgivings" about the elections, both the process and its results:

The common source of doubt is the belief that the election administrators somehow manipulated the reporting of the election outcome, and that delay made such malfeasance possible.

Had the automation of the elections been allowed to push through, Borra said, such distrust of the system would have been minimized.

It was never quite that simple, as far as Monsod was concerned. For sure, automation would have helped facilitate the process. But there were so many issues that faced the Comelec, affecting the entire conduct of the elections and, in the end making the process, at best only "tolerable." The Comelec leadership was poor, the Commission had the wrong priorities and was indecisive in certain key issues, and had a credibility problem "that was of its own making."

Corruption at the highest levels of the Comelec and partisanship for a sitting President were the other issues.

Monsod spoke poetically, likening leadership to a river: Its tributaries can only be as clean as the source. He made recommendations that began with an exhortation for those who make appointments to be wiser:

First, appoint commissioners that are impartial, competent and honest. There is a strong bureaucracy in the Comelec capable of delivering the most modern elections. But it IS a bureaucracy and the commissioners influence to a large extent how many of them will behave. How an intelligent, appointing power can miss that opportunity for leadership is difficult to comprehend.

Read Monsod and Borra�s assessments of the 2004 elections. Also in i-site is an evaluation done by the nongovernment Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS).

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The Full Monty:
Download transcript of three-hour recording

June 10, 2005 @ 4:01 pm � Filed under In the News, Governance

THIS post contains the 67-page transcript in PDF format of the full three-hour recording of the conversations that allegedly took place between Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and various individuals, among them President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband Jose Miguel, senatorial candidate Robert Barbers, and Rep. Gerry Espina. The recording also includes conversations with as yet unidentified individuals, including one who is addressed as �attorney,� and another, as �superintendent.�

These conversations have apparently been recorded by members of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or ISAFP. The wiretaps were supposedly done on the instructions of high-ranking ISAFP officials. There are various theories as to why the wiretapping was ordered. One is that the officials wanted to keep an eye on Garcillano, to make sure that he would not switch sides and favor actor Fernando Poe Jr. instead. Another is that the officers wanted to protect themselves because they were being asked to help in the Arroyo campaign, and they needed to cover their backs by gathering evidence to show they were doing these on orders from above. Another theory is that the officers were aghast at the extent of the manipulation of the vote and wanted to record the fraud.

There have been questions as to why the recording is being released now rather than last year, at the height of the controversy over the elections. What we have found out is that the CDs containing the conversations found their way to various opposition members last month. The reason the recording was leaked now, according to Senator Rodolfo Biazon, appeared to be linked to internal feuds within the ISAFP. Some factions within that once-feared military intelligence unit apparently wanted to use the tape as a leverage against the plan of AFP Chief of Staff Efren Abu to clip ISAFP�s wings by putting its Military Intelligence Groups under the control of the AFP�s five area commands. Under this setup, the ISAFP chief loses most of his powers, his functions becoming purely administrative rather than operational. (Check the Philippine Star�s report on the ISAFP reorganization.)

Yesterday, the papers reported the replacement of the current, controversial ISAFP chief, Brig. General Marlou Quevedo. An Arroyo loyalist and the president�s erstwhile senior military aide, Commodore Leonardo Calderon, was named to the post. Calderon was also reported to be Mrs. Arroyo�s relative. When asked, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters, "I do not know if Commodore de Leon is a relative of the President. I have no personal knowledge." Calderon, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy Class of 1976, was promoted to commodore rank only in April. He is also the brother of Deputy Director Oscar Calderon, the Philippine National Police chief for operations.

Today the Star reported that 120 operatives of the ISAFP�s Military Intelligence Group were confined to barracks on suspicion of "high-profile" wiretapping.

The sound quality of the recorded conversations is uneven. Some portions are barely audible, but others are very clear. But it is worth listening to at least some of them if only to have an insider�s feel of how votes are manipulated. The conversations appear to have taken place mostly in Manila, where Garcilliano was during the period of the recording (May 17 to June 18, 2004). There are references to streets and places, and it is apparent that the commissioner was mainly in the city during that period.

The recording is annotated by a male voice which begins each recorded conversation by announcing the time and date of the recording. The announcement is made military style � "09 11.30 hotel June" means that the conversation took place on June 9 at 11:30 a.m.

Sometimes the people in the tape are identified � Gary is apparently the tappers� code word for Garcillano, who is the common factor in all the conversations.

Unlike the tapes released by Malacanang, the three-hour recording leaves a trail of clues as to Garcillano�s identity. For one, he was frequently referred to by various callers (including Senator Robert Barbers) as �commissioner.� The President herself calls him, �Garcy.� Most telling of all, in a June 12, 2004 phone call to a certain "Tony," the commissioner identifies himself as "Commissioner Gil Garcillano."

In another conversation, at about 10:55 a.m. also on June 12, Garcillano called his wife Grace, who said she was at the second floor of a department store and asked that he meet her there. The commissioner referred to his secretary, Ellen Peralta, by name. As posted in the previous blog, a check with Comelec revealed that Ms. Peralta is indeed Garcillano�s secretary.

Technical problems prevent us from uploading the entire tape now, but we hope we can upload the audio recording in a few hours.

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The Commissioner�s conversations:
Insights into the pathology of fraud

June 10, 2005 @ 12:08 am � Filed under General, In the News, Governance

THE three-hour-long recording of the apparently tapped mobile-phone conversations of Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano provides insights into the pathology of postelection fraud in the Philippines. (The wiretapped conversations can be downloaded from the next post.)

The conversations, which took place from May 17 (one week after the elections) to June 18, 2004 affirm what we already know about the manipulation of the count. But the recording, if it is indeed genuine, also tells us some new things about the kinds of transactions that are involved and the various rungs of officialdom that are party to the manipulation.

If anything, the recording, if proven to be true, destroys whatever shred of credibility is left with the Comelec, as it shows that a commissioner and possibly even the Comelec chief himself, whose name cropped up in several conversations, were implicated in the manipulation of the count. The conversations show the leading officials of a supposedly independent commission not only talking to candidates for the highest positions in the land but also kowtowing to, and receiving orders from, them.

Indeed, the most damning conclusion that one can draw from the recording is that the key institutions that are supposed to safeguard the integrity of the vote � Comelec, the police, officials of the executive branch and the military � are themselves at the forefront of fraud.

Garcillano�s role appears to be that of a facilitator. He appears to be the contact person between politicians who want to ensure their victory and Comelec and local officials on the ground, where the vote manipulation is taking place. He also appeared to be the point man coordinating with high military and police officials. He was like a clearing post to which instructions were sent and from which orders were passed down the line.

Garcillano, 68, has spent most of his professional life in the Comelec bureaucracy. In a recorded conversation with Rep. Gerry Espina, he describes himself as the man of former Commissioner Leonardo Perez, who gained infamy in the fraudulent 1986 �snap� elections that pitted Ferdinand Marcos against Corazon Aquino.

Garcillano was also assigned to Mindanao for many years and so knew Comelec field personnel and local officials there pretty well. While election fraud takes place all across the country, Mindanao is key to the last-minute manipulation of the count. To begin with, for logistical reasons, such as the longer travel time from precincts to canvass centers, lack of transport, etc. the Mindanao count is slower.

There are also fewer independent pollwatchers in Mindanao, so it is easier to delay and manipulate the count. In places where private armies rule, the vote can be rigged wholesale. In other places, Comelec officials can be persuaded to delay the count either because of election protests or other problems. Sometimes, elections are postponed or a failure of elections is declared, so a new voting would have to be held, again delaying the canvass.

These delays in the municipal and provincial canvass � whether deliberate or unintended � allow unscrupulous election officials to bargain with politicians desperate to get the �winning� margin of votes. By then, the trend elsewhere in the country would already be taking shape and a senatorial or presidential candidate, for example, would have some indication of if he or she would win and whether last-minute operations would be needed.

Even if Mindanao votes are involved, some of the transactions that are part of the wholesale fraud are done in Manila. In the past, some of the dagdag-bawas or vote shaving/padding took place at the three-star Aloha Hotel on Roxas Blvd., where election officials from Mindanao were billeted and where they met with the hatchet men of various candidates and parties. In a June 3, 2004 conversation, Garcillano was talking to an unidentified man and telling him he would have the man fetched at the Aloha Hotel.

Garcillano�s long years at the commission gave him familiarity with voting and counting procedures as well as the ways in which these had been perverted in the past. Such specialized technical knowledge and extensive field contacts made him invaluable. Judging by the way various officials talked to him, it appears that he could also be trusted to do their bidding.

Thus Barbers, then trailing in the count, went to Garcillano, asking for his support to get 70,000 more votes. That conversation took place on June 3, 2004. Barbers also complained to him about the exorbitant amounts that the Comelec field personnel were demanding, although the candidate appeared prepared to pay. �Di bale kung rasonable,� he said, �puede naman tayong magdagdag (As long as what they�re asking for is reasonable, I can add more).�

If this conversation really took place, then Garcillano served as go-between between corrupt Comelec field personnel and candidates. The commissioner also appears to be the one accepting the cash and distributing it himself, as seen in his supposed conversation with Barbers, where he tells the senator to have P1.5 million delivered to his secretary, Ellen Peralta (a check with Comelec reveals she is indeed Garcillano�s secretary).

In other words, if the recordings are genuine, Garcillano was a hub in what appears to be an extensive network of fraud. He was dealing with officials higher up (the Comelec chair and the President) as well as lower down the ladder. In one of the most damning conversations, one which supposedly took place in the morning of May 29, 2004, President Arroyo wanted an assurance that her lead would be about one million votes. Garcillano told her that so far it was about 982,000, but more votes would come from Lanao, where tallies from seven municipalities had not yet been included in the provincial canvass.

He was also asked by the Arroyos about details of the count � for example, reports of empty ballot boxes in Camarines Norte (he said he�d call up the election supervisor there and check) and a mismatch between the statements of votes (SOVs) and the certificates of canvass (COCs) in Basilan and Lanao del Sur (he assured the President that the artificial increase in her count in those places was done well and would resist detection).

Garcillano sometimes went into embarrassing detail. In a conversation at about 10 p.m. on June 2, 2004, he complained to the President that the military didn�t do such a good tamper job in Sulu but assured her that it was okay, because he would ensure that no one would testify in case of a complaint. He also told her not to fret about a report that the opposition would file an election complaint in Calanguyan, Tawi-Tawi, because after all, �wala naman tayong ginawa don (we didn�t do anything there).� We even lost there, he added.

Garcillano was apparently also coordinating with the police. He told Mrs. Arroyo that his people in Zamboanga were already cooperating with Arturo Lomibao, then head of the PNP�s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and now PNP chief. The commissioner also told the President he had problems in Marawi, because the Marine commander in charge of the Lanao provinces, Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani, was sympathetic to the opposition. But, he said, thanks to the support of Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko and Brig. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who once headed the Presidential Security Group and was then Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for operations, Gudani was taken out of the way.

In fact, Gudani was pulled out of Marawi on May 11, 2004 and some of his staff was grounded. As Newsbreak reported then, Gudani�s transfer to Manila the day after the elections violated the rules as personnel transfers in the military cannot take place from election day and 30 days after. Newsbreak also reported that the action taken against Gudani demoralized the ranks of the Marines (For a report on the attempts of both the opposition and the administration to use the military during the 2004 elections, check Newsbreak.)

 

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[Talumpati at Sinta]

WOW. Salamat sa lubos na inpormation. Nagtataka lang ako tungkol sa "Yehba" na sinasabi mo. Parang nagpapatalastas ka na e...Wala lang, itinuturo ko lang.

Pero...ayos na ayos iyang mga updates tungkol sa ating pulitika. Salamat talaga. 3nodding