House resumes ‘Hello, Garci’ probe on Wednesday

The five House committees inquiring into the controversial "Hello, Garci" tapes decided yesterday to resume their investigation next Wednesday.

Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla, who chairs the public information committee that is leading the inquiry, said the panels would look into how elusive former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano managed to slip out of the country without authorities knowing about it.

He said officials of the Air Transportation Office, Bureau of Immigration, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Aviation Security Command, Ninoy Aquino International Airport and Subic Air would be invited.

He said he could not understand how Garcillano flew out of the country last July 14 at the height of the "Hello, Garci" controversy without the concerned agencies monitoring his exit.

"They are either sleeping on the job or covering up for Garcillano and his principals," he added.

The former election official is the central character in the controversy, aside from President Arroyo. In the apparently wiretapped recordings, a female caller, who sounds like Mrs. Arroyo, is heard discussing vote rigging and winning in last year’s presidential election by more than a million votes with "Garci," believed to be Garcillano.

Last month, the President admitted talking to an "election official," though she did not identify the official.

The Singaporean government has confirmed in a letter to the DFA that Garcillano flew to the city-state on July 14 and stayed there for one day before leaving for England. The British embassy, however, said it has not issued the former election official a visa, while Remulla revealed that Garcillano might have only stopped over in London en route to another destination, possibly the United States.

The DFA will likely be asked at next Wednesday’s hearing to seek more information from Singapore, such as which carrier transported Garcillano on July 14 and from where in the country he took his flight.

"Such information is important in pinpointing responsibility on the part of agencies here," said Remulla.

He said he would also like to find out why the DFA kept the information relayed to it by Singapore for one week before informing the House and the public.

He noted the Singaporean embassy gave the information to the DFA last week.

Subic Air, which operates charter flights, is reportedly the carrier that transported Garcillano to Singapore. It has admitted sending a Lear jet to the city-state for maintenance, but that the flight did not have the controversial former official as a passenger.

Subic Air is owned by businessman-logger Jose Alvarez of Palawan, whose brother Antonio is a congressman. — Jess Diaz