GMA talked to Garci — lawyer

President Arroyo spoke to missing former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the election period last year, her chief impeachment lawyer admitted yesterday.

Pedro Ferrer made the admission in a news conference in response to repeated questions from reporters on whether Mrs. Arroyo spoke to the elusive Garcillano.

She talked to the then election commissioner only "to protect her votes," he said, adding that he did not think what the President did as a candidate in last year’s presidential election was improper.

Asked whether Garcillano is the "election official" that Mrs. Arroyo admitted talking to in a televised nationwide address last June 27, Ferrer said he did not know.

The President said talking to the unnamed official was a "lapse in judgment" for which she apologized. She has since declined to comment on the issue or reveal the identity of the official.

Ferrer was interviewed after he filed a "motion to strike" for his Malacañang client that seeks the dismissal of the opposition-initiated amended impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo.

Apparently realizing that the encounter with journalists was straying into the controversial subject of the "Hello, Garci" tapes, the President’s lawyer clammed up and refused to answer further questions.

Mrs. Arroyo, in two pleadings filed with the House of Representatives, invoked Republic Act 4200, known as the Anti-Wiretapping Law, contending that the "Hello, Garci" tapes could not be used in any legal, administrative or legislative proceedings.

Asked why the President talked to Garcillano when it was Congress that canvassed the votes for president and vice president in May-June last year, Ferrer said he had no answer.

He also refused to respond to questions about the possible implications of the President’s invoking the Anti-Wiretapping Law.

"I came here to discuss the motion to strike," he said.

Former congressman Eduardo Nachura of Western Samar and election lawyer Romulo Macalintal joined Ferrer at the news conference. Ferrer introduced them as the President’s spokesmen on the impeachment issues, though the two claimed they were not speaking for Mrs. Arroyo nor were they members of her legal team. — Jess Diaz