Senate finds new wiretap witness

A new witness is willing to testify before the Senate to bolster allegations of massive election fraud in the 2004 presidential elections.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, chairman of the Senate committee on defense and national security, said the testimony of the new witness will be "explosive."

"This new witness is very vital… This witness will also tell about existence of other wiretap conversations — on new tapes, which I dub as the ‘children of the mother of all tapes’," he said, referring to the "Hello, Garci" tapes.

The witness will reveal not only that President Arroyo’s conversations with election officer Virgilio Garcillano were wiretapped, but that there exists "sensitive conversations" vital to the operations in the 2004 presidential elections.

Biazon said he has asked his staff to make a transcript of the new tapes which have been turned over to him.

"These (tapes) will even involve big names," he said.

Copies of the new tapes have already been secured, he added.

Meanwhile, an independent source told The STAR that there were indeed other tapes purportedly containing wiretapped conversations of other presidential candidates and politicians who ran for posts in the 2004 elections.

"There are so many people wiretapped," the source said.

"It was not just the President and Garcillano… In fact, other bets also called up Garcillano. They included people from the opposition, including one presidential bet."

Other sources from the Department of National Defense revealed that another agent of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines will come to corroborate the allegations by Sgt. Vidal Doble on wiretapping activities in the 2004 elections.

The agent was among the 13 or so ISAFP agents who were part of a team tasked to conduct the "highly classified" wiretapping operations, sources added.

Despite earlier denials by Armed Forces chief Gen. Generoso Senga that the ISAFP has no capability to eavesdrop on cellular phone conversations, some ISAFP agents have come forward to prove alleged illegalities in the last presidential elections.

It cannot be established as of press time whether Biazon’s new witness is the same ISAFP agent who wanted to come out earlier and testify.

Biazon did not name his new witness, but linked new personalities in the alleged operations in the 2004 elections to avoid preempting his own inquiry.

Biazon said he wanted to make sure that the identity of the new witness remains a mystery until the resumption of investigations after Congress reopens on Jan. 16.

"We don’t want this new witness going ober da bakod again, as what had happened in the past," he said. "Let us hope this materializes."

The Senate has not wrapped up its probe on the alleged breach of national security after the President herself was wiretapped.

Other witnesses who showed up at the Senate included retired Marine Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani and Marine Col. Alexander Balutan.

Gudani had testified before the Senate that First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo was spotted a number of times in the Lanao provinces bringing bundles of money, presumed by the political opposition as used to propel the victory of Mrs. Arroyo in the last elections.

Mrs. Arroyo’s and her husband’s camps have denied allegations of election fraud hurled against them.

Last year, the Senate also heard the testimony of Doble’s girlfriend, Mayette Santos, who claimed to have gained access to the ISAFP’s so-called "Blue Room" where the alleged wiretapping activities occurred.

Santos’ statements were belied by the AFP which raised questions on her credibility.

But the Senate said the AFP could suffer a budget cut if the military brass fails to answer questions on the apparent breach of security at the ISAFP.

Even Senga would face scrutiny at the Commission on Appointments where he was bypassed last year when he excused himself from attending the confirmation last December due to the wedding of one of his sons. — Christina Mendez