Malacañang on Garci: Don’t look at us

Malacañang disavowed anew yesterday accusations that it knows the whereabouts of former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, who opposition leaders believe may already be dead.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said they have no report on the location or physical condition of the missing Commission on Elections (Comelec) official.

"I have no idea," Ermita told a news conference at Malacañang.

Asked whether Malacañang is worried over reports that Garcillano is already dead, Ermita said it is everybody’s concern.

"Of (course) it’s a concern always of anybody looking for somebody, that one does not get into peril," he said. "Of course we don’t want people to die."

Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla earlier expressed his suspicions that the controversial poll official may already be dead somewhere since there are no reports indicating where he was last reported seen.

Remulla, chairman of the panel at the House of Representatives tracking down Garcillano over the wiretap conversation scandal implicating President Arroyo, had expressed his suspicion that the controversial former election official may have been "permanently silenced.¸

"It’s more valuable to the administration if he (Garcillano) is dead than alive. A dead man tells no tales," the Cavite lawmaker told journalists on Monday.

Garcillano has remained elusive for months now as he is being sought by the opposition to explain his role over the supposed wiretap conversations with the President in allegedly rigging the results of the May 10, 2004 elections.

The wiretap conversations were made the basis of opposition allegations in accusing Mrs. Arroyo of cheating in last year’s elections.

Mrs. Arroyo admitted it was a "lapse of judgment" on her part to talk to an election official but did not mention Garcillano in particular and denied allegations of rigging the election results.

Even after the impeachment complaint against the President was junked by the House of Representatives, Garcillano remains elusive, triggering reports that he was seen in various parts of the world, including Europe and South America.

The former poll official was said to have escaped the country last July 14 on a chartered flight to Singapore where he was last reportedly seen.

There were also reports that Garcillano recently hid at the President’s ancestral house in Iligan City before embarking on a long journey abroad to escape.

Gloria Villaraza, of the Malacañang Internal House Affairs Office and director of the Macapagal-Macaraeg ancestral home in Iligan City, denied the reports and challenged the opposition to verify their claims and visit the house to see for themselves.

"You can open the closets and cabinets and see if you can find Garcillano," Villaraza said.

Villaraza also said Remulla’s statement that Garcillano might have been silenced "is a manifestation that the opposition is now scraping the bottom of the barrel."

Villaraza claimed they have nothing to hide since the ancestral house is a registered Philippine Heritage House, a tourist destination that is open to the public and foreign tourists. "We have so many visitors every day," she pointed out.

Davao City Rep. Douglas Cagas made a visit to the ancestral house last Tuesday and also denied reports that Garcillano is being held incognito.

Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella also lashed back at the opposition for "irresponsible statements" in claiming Garcillano may have been silenced.

"It is irresponsible of them to hint the administration ordered his rubout. This accusation is not only baseless, but is also outright black propaganda in the guise of morbid curiosity," Puentevella said.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Benasing Macarambon, for his part, said Remulla and other opposition figures should have considered the welfare of Garcillano’s family before making the statements.

Garcillano’s relatives led by his wife Grace, also denied reports that the former election official is already dead.

They also denied Garcillano himself was with his wife in Lapayan, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte during All Saints’ Day.

An official here, however, claimed seeing his former classmate who is also a staff member of the former election commissioner.

"Apparently that staff member was here to transact business for Garcillano using a different name, at the bank," the official said. - With Lino de la Cruz