‘Time to close book on poll fraud charges’

Malacañang said yesterday it was time to close the book on the "Hello, Garci" wiretapping controversy and the alleged cheating of President Arroyo in the 2004 election.

"The President won fair and square in the polls, was vindicated in the impeachment proceedings and will consistently be vindicated in any open, fair inquiry," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

"It is time to close the book on this issue that has been yielding nothing but hot air. It is time to move on. Statesmanship, not endless muckraking, should prevail."

A congressional inquiry has come out with a revised report admitting it had failed to unravel the mystery behind the "Hello, Garci" controversy.

A draft of the 18-page report said the 14 hearings attended by 16 witnesses "only raised more issues and answered none."

It said Congress should "continue to seek the answers... and, in particular, subpoena phone records to establish the likelihood or unlikelihood that alleged wiretapping conversations could have taken place."

The report also recommended that government officials who helped former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano flee the country at the height of the controversy be fired.

The opposition alleges that Garcillano helped Mrs. Arroyo cheat her way to victory in the May 2004 presidential race and that the administration helped him evade a congressional inquiry conducted by five committees of the House of Representatives.

The report also concluded that the tape recordings are inadmissible as evidence in any legal proceeding.

The House committees also recommended the revocation of business permits of private entities that helped Garcillano go into hiding.

Mrs. Arroyo has been locked in a protracted battle with the opposition over the audiotapes that were released publicly last June. The recordings allegedly show Mrs. Arroyo’s phone calls to Garcillano in which ways to cheat in the 2004 elections were discussed.

She issued a public apology last June 27 for her "lapse in judgment" in calling an unidentified election official but denied trying to cheat in the election.

Mrs. Arroyo survived an impeachment bid in September, but opposition groups have vowed to bring her down before her term ends in 2010.

Other recommendations made were a review of the anti-wiretapping law and the passage of a law on cyber crime to deter illegal access and/or interception of communications systems and networks.

The committee report also recommended that an arrest warrant be issued for former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong for ignoring summonses to the congressional inquiry. — Aurea Calica