Garci machinery still intact, says Lacson

The machinery of controversial former Commissioner Virgilio "Garci" Garcillano of the Commission on Elections is still intact, according to Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

"It is intact, and the administration will most likely use it to boost the winning chances of its Team Unity," he said in a television interview over the weekend.

Garcillano is planning to run for congressman in the first district of Bukidnon, though Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who is seeking a Senate seat under Team Unity, has asked him not to pursue his congressional bid "for the sake of our province and our people."

"Mr. Garcillano should just focus on farming," Zubiri said.

Garcillano is believed to be the "Garci" in the "Hello, Garci" tapes. In the recordings, a female caller who sounds like President Arroyo talks to "Garci" about her votes in the May 2004 presidential election.

In June 2005, Mrs. Arroyo admitted talking to an "election official," though she has not identified the official until now. It was a lapse in judgment, she said then, for which she apologized.

In January last year, testifying before the House, Garcillano confessed to talking to Mrs. Arroyo only once during the election period in 2004.

Based on the tape recordings, "Garci" and his female caller had at least 14 conversations.

The President continues to be hounded by the "Hello, Garci" tape recording scandal that raises issues about her legitimacy. She has denied she cheated in May 2004.

Lacson, who is seeking re-election under the Genuine Opposition, did not name names, but many generals in the Armed Forces and Comelec officers mentioned in the "Garci" tapes, including incumbent chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr., have been promoted.

In a recent press statement, Rep. Risa Hontiveros of the party-list group Akbayan named some Garcillano people who have been promoted.

"Francisco Pobe, for instance, was recently promoted as assistant regional director for the Caraga Region and is now under Cirilo Naja Jr., one of Garci’s friends. In 2004, Pobe was the provincial election supervisor of Surigao del Sur and he talked to Garci to give updates on the votes from Cotabato City that President Arroyo was keen on ‘protecting’," Hontiveros said.

She said Renato Magbutay, "who in one of the conversations tried to convince Garci to have a woman election official kidnapped because she refused to cheat for GMA, is now regional director for Region VI."

"Ray Sumalipao, who headed the board of canvassers for Lanao del Sur, where massive cheating allegedly took place, is now the regional director for ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao). Renault Macarambon, who talked to Garci to ensure the victory of a senatorial candidate, now heads the Comelec Election and Barangay Affairs Department," she added.

During their proclamation rally last Monday in her home province of Pampanga, Mrs. Arroyo predicted that her Team Unity senatorial ticket would make a clean sweep of the coming May 14 elections.

Commenting on such prediction, Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, another opposition senatorial candidate, said the only way the administration can beat the opposition is through massive cheating.