‘Hello Garci’ hearing at Senate resumes Friday

The Senate committee on national defense and security will resume on Friday its investigation of the purported wiretapped conversation between President Arroyo and election officer Virgilio Garcillano in which they allegedly plotted to rig last year’s elections.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, committee chairman, has also subpoenaed Judge Nagamura Moner of the 12th Shari’a Circuit Court of Wao, Lanao del Sur for him to appear at the hearing set for 10 a.m. Friday.

Moner was unable to attend the Senate hearing last week. His lawyer, Ruel Pulido, was at a loss when asked why his client was not present.

Moner’s testimony was crucial because he could allegedly link Mrs. Arroyo and her husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, to a plot to rig the 2004 elections in her favor.

"He was the same person who promised me through his lawyer… a copy of his statement where he implicated Mike Arroyo, certainly, and… he also said the President knew about it," Pimentel said.

Pimentel said Moner claimed he and Mrs. Arroyo met at a hotel in Cagayan de Oro prior to the elections where she asked, "Natanggap mo na ba ang pinadala ko sa ‘yo (Have you received what I sent you)?"

"I don’t recall the exact amounts but it was in the millions," Pimentel said, adding that he was not sure if he had also met Moner in person before the controversy broke.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez was questioned yesterday at the Senate during the first hearing on the Department of Justice’s proposed P9.23 billion budget on the various controversies hounding the Arroyo administration and his department.

Gonzalez was grilled by senators led by Sen. Manny Villar, finance committee chairman, on controversial issues ranging from the calibrated preemptive response implemented against anti-Arroyo protesters, the President’s controversial wiretapped conversation, and his views on the anti-terrorism bill.

When asked about the whereabouts of Garcillano, Gonzalez confirmed that the erstwhile election officer fled to Singapore via Singapore Airlines apparently through a private plane in Subic.

The Singapore embassy confirmed Garcillano’s arrival in Singapore but local immigration officers failed to monitor his departure from the Philippines.

"He landed in Singapore but they (Singaporean officials) did not know where he was going," Gonzalez told the Senate panel.