Moment of truth for Garci

Today is the moment of truth for former election official Virgilio Garcillano as he finally appears before an inquiry at the House of Representatives on the electoral fraud allegations hounding President Arroyo in which he allegedly played a key role.

Citing lack of merit, the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday junked Garcillano’s petition to quash a warrant of arrest issued by the House to compel him to appear at the probe after he repeatedly snubbed summonses and went into hiding earlier this year.

SC spokesman Ismael Khan Jr. said the court denied Garcillano’s petition because it could not interfere in the affairs of the House, since the legislature and judiciary are co-equal branches of government.

It also rejected Garcillano’s argument that the House had overstepped legal boundaries in summoning him.

The Senate is conducting a parallel probe. Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, who is heading the inquiry, has warned Garcillano to show up or face arrest.

The SC is deliberating on a second Garcillano petition, which seeks to stop the House from using or discussing the so-called "Hello, Garci" audiotapes in today’s inquiry. The SC asked the five House committees conducting the joint inquiry to comment on the petition within 10 days.

Garcillano had claimed the House arrest warrant was "erroneously issued and was done with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction since the petitioner was not validly served a copy of any of the subpoenas."

Garcillano also branded the House investigation as a "politically motivated fishing expedition which seeks to target" him.

"The five House committees also issued the warrant of arrest against him in a purported inquiry conducted not in aid of legislation, but for the veiled purpose of prosecution, which is properly the duty and province of the regular courts," he said.

While maintaining that he was not the official heard on the "Hello, Garci" tapes, Garcillano claims the recordings violated the anti-wiretapping law and were therefore illegally obtained and could not be used in any proceeding.

Garcillano’s lawyer, Eddie Tamondong, said his client will not answer questions about his alleged taped conversations with President Arroyo on vote rigging.

"Anything about those tapes, he will not answer, because he says he’s not the one on those recordings.

"He will not be consistent with this assertion if he answers questions about those tapes," he told radio station dzMM’s Ted Failon and Korina Sanchez.

Tamondong said his client is making the assertion only now after disappearing for months "because the situation five months ago was muddled and confused."

Asked about the female caller of "Garci" on the tapes who reportedly sounds like Mrs. Arroyo, Tamondong said Garcillano had no comment so far.

Mrs. Arroyo has admitted talking to an "election official" at the height of congressional canvassing of votes last year, though she did not name which official.

Garcillano’s refusal to answer questions about the "Garci" tapes, which the five committees had played before the public on television and radio last August, means that today’s hearing could end up going in circles.

Even so, administration critics in the House said they would grill the former commissioner on his supposed taped conversations with Mrs. Arroyo.

"I will ask him about the tapes, which are at the center of our investigation. Let him deny those conversations under oath," said Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, one of eight opposition and administration congressmen Garcillano named as among the politicians he talked to about "election matters."

Golez denied talking to the former commissioner, saying the latter’s claim was "crazy." "I don’t need his political acumen," he said.

Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla said he would avoid referring to the tapes if Garcillano does not want to talk about the recordings.

"But I will ask him if Mrs. Arroyo called him not once but several times during last year’s vote count, and what did they discuss. Did she tell him that she wanted to lead over FPJ (the late Fernando Poe Jr.) by more than a million votes, and did he tell her, ‘Pilipitin ko ho (I’ll try), ma’am’?" he said.

Remulla was chairman of the public information committee that is leading the "Hello, Garci" inquiry until two weeks ago, when the House replaced him with Emmylou Talino-Santos of North Cotabato.

Golez used to head the defense committee, one of the panels involved in the inquiry.

Remulla and Golez were replaced after they supported the opposition’s failed initiative to impeach Mrs. Arroyo.

In his testimony, Garcillano is expected to complete his list of "20 to 30" House members and "five to six senatorial candidates" who called him in the course of last year’s combined presidential, congressional and local elections.

Asked by Failon and Sanchez yesterday why his client revealed only a partial list of seven congressmen and one Cebu congresswoman on Monday, Tamondong said, "Para raw may thrill (So there would be some thrill). That initial list is only for starters."

He admitted the conversations Garcillano supposedly had with some of the congressmen might have been about legitimate concerns.

But the point the former commissioner wanted to make was that politicians from both the administration and the opposition had talked to him during that period, the lawyer said.

‘Ask them’

Asked why it was Garcillano and not other commissioners that these politicians spoke with — if it is true that they did — Tamondong said, "You have to ask those politicians."

Arroyo loyalists in the House urged their eight colleagues whom Garcillano named on Monday to fully explain their alleged conversations with the former commissioner.

"They cannot just shrug off Garcillano’s revelation as blackmail or lies. The people are entitled to know what really transpired in their conversations," said Reps. Douglas Cagas of Davao del Sur and Anthony Miranda of Isabela.

"Now it’s their word against Garcillano’s. This is poetic justice or karma. It is ironic that they are now the ones on the defensive, perhaps they will finally admit that this whole controversy was just completely blown out of proportion for their vested political ends. They should be man enough to let the truth come out about their conversations or meetings with Garcillano," they said.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, for his part, admitted to speaking with Garcillano during the election period last year but said it was after the senatorial vote count was concluded.

"I did not talk for myself. I talked to him about somebody else upon the request of someone," he told reporters. "If this conversation was taped, I would like my conversation to be played so that there will be a faithful reproduction of whatever content."

Meanwhile, Malacañang officials said it’s now the turn of the lawmakers who spoke with Garcillano to explain themselves.

"The verdict has been issued via the failed impeachment move," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said, maintaining that Mrs. Arroyo committed no wrongdoing. "Now it seems to be the turn of some legislators to face the moment of truth."

Mrs. Arroyo has a full schedule today and has no plans of monitoring the House inquiry, Bunye said. "The President is out of the fray and undeterred by the continuing noise as she remains focused on the economy, investments and jobs." — With reports from Evelyn Macairan, Aurea Calica, Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy, Mayen Jaymalin