BI: No coverup on ‘Garci’ case

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Alipio Fernandez denied yesterday opposition charges that his agency allowed former election official Virgilio Garcillano to slip out of the country to avoid questions about his alleged role in helping President Arroyo cheat in last year’s election.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson maintained that Garcillano could not have left the country without the help of Malacañang and without the proper travel documents.

But the Palace insisted yesterday that it had nothing to do with Garcillano’s disappearance.

"That accusation is expected of the opposition," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in an interview.

In a reply to a letter from the Philippine embassy verifying reports that Garcillano had indeed flown to Singapore, immigration authorities there confirmed that Garcillano arrived on July 14, a month after the opposition released audiotapes of Mrs. Arroyo’s purported phone conversations with him discussing ways to rig the election results.

He left the following day for a still unknown destination. Garcillano is now believed to be in London but British authorities said they have so far found no record that he was issued a visa recently.

Fernandez said if Garcillano did leave on July 14, there was no legal restraint against his departure because he left before the House of Representatives ordered his arrest for snubbing an inquiry on the poll fraud allegations. The order was issued early this month.

Immigration authorities at airports and seaports were ordered by the BI to be on the lookout for Garcillano even before the House arrest order was issued.

But no one could legally prevent Garcillano from leaving the country because there was no order barring his exit at the time, Fernandez pointed out.

"It is also likely that he indeed took a private or chartered aircraft and not a commercial plane because all the airline manifests showed that no passenger named Virgilio Garcillano left on July 14," he added.

Fernandez said he personally checked manifests of all flights to Singapore that day and Garcillano’s name did not appear on any of them.

Private aircraft operators are required by law to inform immigration authorities if they are flying passengers into or out of the country. Violators face criminal charges.

One plane did arrive in Singapore from Subic, Zambales that day, it was noted. But the Air Transportation Office said Garcillano was not on it.

"He was not on that Subic Air flight that went to Singapore," Transportation Assistant Secretary Nilo Jatico, head of the ATO, said during a press briefing. The three people on the plane were the pilot, co-pilot and a flight engineer, he said.

The plane was inspected by immigration authorities and by the Philippine National Police’s Aviation Security Group before it took off, Jatico assured.

Fernandez has formed a five-member team led by BI executive director Roy Almario to find out how Garcillano managed to evade immigration authorities.

"The investigation will zero in on the possible involvement of immigration officers and officials of other government agencies in facilitating Garcillano’s departure," he said. "Any Immigration officer found involved in this anomaly will be administratively and criminally charged."

Suspecting government involvement, Lacson argued it was impossible for Singapore to grant Garcillano entry if his passport did not bear a departure stamp from the Bureau of Immigration.

It is highly unlikely that Garcillano would return to the country to shed light on Mrs. Arroyo’s purported wiretapped phone conversations if the Arroyo administration did help him leave, Lacson reasoned.

"Unless he will be permitted by the administration, who has the motive for Garcillano to disappear? Isn’t it the administration because Garcillano is exhibit number one in the electoral fraud because of the ‘Garci’ tape?" he said in a radio interview.

Since British authorities could not confirm whether Garcillano was in the United Kingdom, Lacson said it was more likely that he was still hiding somewhere in Southeast Asia.

Travelers from member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are not required to obtain travel visas when visiting ASEAN-member countries.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., meanwhile, repeated his call for the Department of Foreign Affairs to invalidate Garcillano’s passport to flush him out of hiding, pointing out that the House has already ordered his arrest.

"The DFA must now cancel Garcillano’s passport. Make him an illegal alien abroad to compel him to submit to Philippine jurisdiction," he said.

National Bureau of Investigation Director Reynaldo Wycoco still believes that Garcillano is somewhere in Malaysia and has sent agents to check it out.

Singapore’s proximity to Malaysia and the lack of confirmation that Garcillano is indeed in London strengthen this suspicion, Wycoco explained.

He added that the NBI regional office in Zamboanga City has reported that barter traders in Sabah, Malaysia, had reported seeing Garcillano on the evening of Aug. 3 at Club Sheraton in Labuan.

"So it is possible that from Singapore, Garcillano went to Malaysia because the UK said that they did not issue a visa to Garcillano and this was verified by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, which is like the DFA in the Philippines. Even the British embassy said they did not issue a visa," Wycoco told reporters.

But the NBI is not discounting the possibility that Garcillano is somewhere in London. "But the only way he can do that is if he used a different name and used a different passport," Wycoco said.

Police in Malaysia will help in the manhunt for Garcillano and the NBI will send pictures and details within the week.

But there are limits, Wycoco said. "They can only help in monitoring or possible identification since we do not have a criminal warrant against Garcillano or an extradition treaty with Malaysia. What we have is a bench warrant from Congress."

Sources said Britain’s Scotland Yard is also looking for Garcillano following reports of sightings in London.

Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla, who chairs one of the five House committees investigating the poll fraud accusations against Mrs. Arroyo and had sought Garcillano’s arrest, said the DFA should request more information from Singapore about how Garcillano got there and where he went.

"I do not believe that Singapore, whose cooperation we appreciate, cannot provide that information. We need those details to pinpoint responsibility on the part of some officials here who are obviously sleeping on the job or are part of a grand cover-up," he said.

Remulla also said Immigration chief Fernandez and ATO head Jatico should resign if they could not sufficiently explain how Garcillano slipped out of the country. "Maybe they are covering up for him and his influential principals."

Mrs. Arroyo’s alleged phone conversations with Garcillano form part of the impeachment charges filed against her. The complaint, now pending with the House committee on justice, accuses Mrs. Arroyo of violating the Constitution, betraying public trust, corruption and bribery.

In July, Mrs. Arroyo apologized to the nation for what she described as an improper telephone call to an unidentified election official before Congress could proclaim the winner of the hotly contested presidential race. She claimed she was only protecting her votes amid a slow ballot count.

However, she insists she committed no crime and has refused to resign, urging critics to channel their complaints through the impeachment proceedings. — With Marvin Sy, Evelyn Macairan, Rainier Allan Ronda, Jess Diaz, Paolo Romero, Edith Regalado