House summons Garcillano

The five House committees inquiring into the "Gloriagate" scandal decided yesterday to subpoena former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, one of the central characters in the controversy.

Members of both the majority and minority blocs demanded that the man known as "Garci" in the tapes talking to President Arroyo during last year’s canvass of votes must be produced, because the "Gloriagate" story would not be complete without him.

Representatives Eduardo Gullas of Cebu, from the majority, and Jacinto Paras of Negros Oriental, from the minority, presented the motion to subpoena Garcillano.

Gullas said the House should enlist the help of law enforcement agencies and even the military, if necessary, to physically summon the former election commissioner to the chamber’s inquiry.

The five committees already sent two invitations to "Garci" at his Metro Manila and Cagayan de Oro City residences, but received no response. There were reports that the former commissioner also had residences in Cebu City and Bukidnon.

Minority Leader Francis Escudero told the committees they should seek the help of an "administration congressman" who, just minutes before yesterday’s hearing started, admitted in a news conference that he was in touch with Garcillano.

Escudero was referring to Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr., a staunch ally of the President.

He said Pichay arranged a phone interview on Tuesday between "Garci" and a reporter and again on Wednesday, and even came out with an affidavit in which the former commissioner claimed Mrs. Arroyo did not cheat in last year’s election.

Pichay admitted in a news conference that Garcillano phoned him on Tuesday and Wednesday.

He said the former commissioner was apparently using a pre-paid mobile phone, whose number he refused to give to reporters.

He said he would try to convince "Garci" to come out of hiding and tell his side of the story in the "Gloriagate" matter when he calls again.

He claimed he did not know Garcillano’s whereabouts.

Hearing Pichay’s admission that he was in touch with "Garcia," Majority Leader Prospero Nograles urged his colleague from Surigao del Sur to exert all efforts to convince the former election official to come out in the open.

"Everybody is asking, ‘Where is Garci?’ Now we have the golden opportunity to produce him," Nograles said.

Over the weekend, Pichay revealed that aside from Mrs. Arroyo, "Garci" and other administration candidates, opposition figures were also heard on the two cassette tapes that lawyer Alan Paguia possessed.

However, when Paguia, a former counsel of ousted President Joseph Estrada in his plunder trial, turned over the tapes to the five committees and the panels played them in public, no opposition personality could be heard in the conversations.

In the interview arranged by Pichay, Garcillano said he talked to not only administration candidates but also people from the opposition, including defeated vice presidential bet Loren Legarda and Escudero. Both Legarda and Escudero denied the claim of the former election official.

Not in Marawi

The five committees decided to subpoena "Garci" after Lanao del Sur Representatives Abdullah Dimaporo and Benasing Macarambon denied a report in The STAR that they were "coddling" Garcillano.

The two said if they knew where "Garci" was, they would have asked him to heed the invitations of the five committees to appear before the investigation.

Macarambon said The STAR, "which is read all over the world," might know Garcillano’s whereabouts since it reported in yesterday’s issue that the former official might either be in his Cebu City residence or his Bukidnon home.

In a phone interview, Dimaporo asked: "How could I be with Garcillano in Marawi when I am residing here in Tubod, the hometown of my wife Gov. Imelda Quibranza-Dimaporo, or in Sultan Naga Dimaporo town where I grew up and I only go to Marawi City if invited on a speaking engagement or a Muslim wedding?"

Macarambon even presented a motion to summon STAR publisher Max V. Soliven to force him to reveal the paper’s sources in order to track down Garcillano, but Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla, who chairs the public information committee that is leading the "Gloriagate" inquiry, dissuaded his colleagues from pursuing this move.

Meanwhile, military insiders said yesterday the missing commissioner was somewhere north of Manila being taken care of by an influential and equally controversial civilian figure with a full 20-man security complement courtesy of an unnamed Cabinet member.

There are also two Marine soldiers acting as Garcillano’s "personal bodyguards," insiders claimed. "He is just north of Manila and not in Mindanao or in Cebu."

Military and police sources volunteered this information fearing that Garcillano might disappear forever.

"Baka mawala na lang iyan. At least alam ng taumbayan na may nakakaalam jung talagang saan siya at sino ang nag-aalaga sa kanya," a military source said.

A trusted Cabinet member was directly in control of the missing former election official, the source said.

In denying he had custody of Garcillano, Dimaporo said he was out of the country on an official mission from June 10 to 23 and when he returned he never talked to anybody except his wife and immediate family.

Dimaporo also took exception to The STAR article which reported that his father, the late Ali Dimaporo, was "notoriously linked" to poll fraud. Dimaporo said his father, who was governor of their province for many years, "was no cheat."

It was at this point that Escudero, having heard of Pichay’s news conference, suggested that the committee should instead seek the Surigao congressman’s help.

Shortly after the committees unanimously decided to subpoena Garcillano, Isabela Rep. Anthony Miranda, another staunch defender of Mrs. Arroyo in the "Gloriagate" probe, ignored the decision and presented a motion to stop the investigation.

But Remulla and the joint chairmen presiding over the inquiry prevailed upon Miranda to withdraw his motion since the panels still want to hear from "Garci" and other witnesses.

Liar or lemon

Also in yesterday’s hearing, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Reynaldo Wycoco insisted that he did not lie before the five committees in his first testimony two weeks ago, when he said his agency has no wiretapping capability.

Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin Remulla, claiming Wycoco lied, confronted him with documents showing that during the time of ousted President Joseph Estrada, Malacañang released P25 million to the NBI for the purchase of a GSM mobile phone interceptor.

Remulla, who was head of the Presidential Management Staff at that time, said the NBI did procure the equipment from a French supplier and that the mobile phone interceptor was delivered in December 2000.

Replying to the Cavite congressman, Wycoco, who said he was appointed NBI director in January 2001, told the two committees the equipment was a "lemon" and did not work when they tried to use it.

He said it was actually Ong, then his deputy, who requested to use it.

He insisted he did not lie and told the truth when he said his agency does not have a wiretapping capability.

But joint presiding chairman Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati told Wycoco that he should have volunteered the information the first time he appeared before the committees and could have avoided the accusation that he lied.

Former senator Francisco Tatad was to follow the NBI chief in the witness stand. Tatad was invited because Paguia has named him as the one who gave him the two "Gloriagate" audiocassette tapes.

Before testifying, the former senator told reporters that the tapes were sent "probably by hand" in April to his Quezon City residence. He said he was not at home when the tapes, contained in a brown Manila envelope, arrived.

He said it is possible that it was Ong who sent him the materials.

He said he asked Paguia to make a "legal study" of the tapes since the conversations contained in them indicate that the voices in that tapes were discussing crimes, including vote-rigging, kidnapping, bribery and obstruction of justice.

Regarding charges made by administration congressmen that he is part of an opposition-led conspiracy to topple the government, Tatad said, "We are not trying to bring down the government. We are trying to force the resignation of President Arroyo." — With reports from Jaime Laude, Richel Umel