DOJ clears Garcillano

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano of lying and falsifying documents before a congressional inquiry to avoid prosecution in the May 2004 elections wiretap scandal.

In a 12-page resolution, Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon said there is no probable cause to prosecute Garcillano for the 21 counts of perjury, or lying before a congressional inquiry.

Fadullon added the controversial former election official did not falsify his passport to make it appear that he did not leave the country at the height of the controversy linking him to the wiretap controversy last year.

Fadullon said it would be unfair to Garcillano "to answer for the charges filed against him, however sensational or scandalous the committed acts may be, where the reasonable probability of his guilt thereon has not been fairly established by the State."

"In the same way, it would also be unfair for the State to spend for a useless trial of a case. In view of the foregoing, the above-entitled cases are hereby dismissed for lack of probable cause," Fadullon said.

The resolution stating the dismissal of the charges was dated Nov. 14, but was only received by Garcillano’s lawyer Eddie Tamondong yesterday. The STAR obtained a copy of the resolution.

The case stemmed from the charges filed by Sen. Panfilo Lacson and 19 opposition congressmen last March and April accusing Garcillano of lying before the congressional inquiry on the wiretap controversy.

Lacson and the other lawmakers said Garcillano doctored his passport to make it appear that he did not leave the country at the height of the controversy, during which almost everyone was looking for him to answer the allegations that he was the election official on the phone with President Arroyo and asked to rig the election results during the May 2004 presidential runup.

Fadullon said the charge of perjury against Garcillano failed to indicate the "specific statement" made by Garcillano before the House of Representatives that was false and made under oath.

"The charge of perjury is not meritorious... it did not indicate the specific statement made by the respondent before the House hearings alleged to be false and made under oath," Fadullon said.

Fadullon said Lacson and his co-complainants merely concluded in the complaint that the testimony of Garcillano during the House hearings that he never left the country was false.

"At best, the allegation is a mere general conclusion, which cannot provide sufficient basis for prosecuting a charge for perjury," he said.

Fadullon said the transcripts of Garcillano’s testimony before the House that were submitted as evidence by opposition congressmen do not show that any part of Garcillano’s testimony was made under oath.

The complaint for perjury, violation of the Passport Act of 1996 and falsification of public documents against Garcillano were originally heard for preliminary investigation by the Quezon City Prosecutor’s office.

But the complaints were subsequently endorsed to the DOJ after Lacson and the opposition lawmakers sought to inhibit the prosecutors of Quezon City for allegedly manifesting partiality toward Garcillano.

The complaints for perjury, violation of the Passport Act and falsification of public documents against Garcillano had cited the same offenses allegedly committed by Garcillano during the congressional hearing on the "Hello Garci" scandal.

Fadullon said the complainants had failed to submit their reply to the counter-affidavit submitted by Garcillano.

"Not even one or a few of the complainants appeared or endeavored to file their long impending reply-affidavits," Fadullon said.

Fadullon added the complainants merely relied on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) laboratory examination report and the note verbale from Singapore in charging Garcillano for falsification of his passport.

Fadullon said the report of the BSP laboratory last March 20 cannot also be used by the complainant against Garcillano as an incriminating presumption because the report did not find Garcillano’s passport a product of forgery or counterfeiting.

"What was merely found therein was that the passport does not conform to standards. The legal terms falsified, forged and fake are terms too strong to be merely defined by the technical people of the BSP as not conforming to standards," Fadullon said.

"If indeed there was forgery or counterfeiting in the making of the passport, the BSP report would have stated it so in no uncertain term," he added.

As lawful owner and holder of passport no. JJ243816, Garcillano has all the right and privilege to use it, he said.

Fadullon said even the note verbale issued by Singapore indicating that Garcillano transited in Singapore on July 14, 2005 and departed Singapore on July 15, 2005 cannot be given legal weight because the document was not authenticated.

And as between the note verbale from Singapore and the Philippine passport, "the latter should prevail," Fadullon said.

Garcillano was widely believed to be the election official in the "Hello Garci" tapes, which recorded telephone conversations with President Arroyo.

The President admitted talking to an election official during the canvassing of the results of the May 2004 elections but never identified Garcillano as the person she had talked to over the telephone.

Garcillano, on the other hand, repeatedly denied talking to the President.

Garcillano then went into hiding, which further fueled speculations that the former Commission on Election (Comelec) commissioner helped in Mrs. Arroyo’s one-million vote margin in the 2004 national elections.

The wiretap recordings of the conversation allegedly proved the election conspiracy.

Garcillano’s continued absence became a favorite topic for Mrs. Arroyo’s critics.

There were reports that Garcillano was aided by former national security adviser Hermogenes Ebdane, who is now public works secretary. Ebdane has denied this.

Speculations were rife over where Garcillano was hiding. Others claimed seeing him leaving for Malaysia but a great majority claimed he sought refuge in Singapore.

Garcillano was also reportedly seen in Mindanao under heavy guard.

Authorities later issued a warrant for his arrest. The Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) were requested by the House to locate the former poll official to respond to allegations before a panel.

Then on Nov. 20, Garcillano surfaced and appeared before the media six days later.

Garcillano continued to issue statements denying any election rigging and calling up Mrs. Arroyo.

The former poll official went on to deny the allegations before Congress and refused to answer questions from the lawmakers, invoking his right against self-incrimination.