Comelec told to report actions taken on 'Hello, Garci'

MANILA, Philippines – Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano has directed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to clarify if any investigation has been conducted on the “Hello, Garci” controversy, as well as the officials involved in the scandal.

Cayetano has written Comelec’s law department to provide all of the documents relevant to the “Hello, Garci” issue to determine the actions it has taken on the controversy that rocked its credibility several years ago.

Cayetano said the Comelec has been issuing conflicting statements, with its spokesman saying that the matter has been investigated and its law department head saying a different thing.

Cayetano said that in a radio interview, Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan denied any record of investigation conducted on the “Hello, Garci” scandal or any document clearing the officials involved in the controversy.

“Comelec explained that these officials were already investigated and were later cleared of all charges,he said.

“However, according to recent media reports, no actual investigations were conducted. So I have to ask: Did Comelec really investigate these men’s involvement in the scandal?”

Cayetano was referring to six election officers of the Comelec, whom he described as key players in the “Hello, Garci” controversy during the 2004 elections, and who continue to hold various posts in the poll body.

The most prominent name among the six was Ray Sumalipao, who Cayetano noted was the most mentioned as the operator of former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, central figure of the controversy.

Cayetano said during the 2004 elections where massive cheating allegedly took place, Sumalipao was assistant election director of Davao Region and concurrent acting election director of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Sumalipao was recently assigned by Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes to head the 2011 ARMM elections before Congress passed the law postponing and synchronizing it with the 2013 midterm elections.

Cayetano also named the following as the key players in the controversy: Renault Macarambon of Lanao del Sur who is currently head of the Comelec’s election and barangay affairs division; Renato Magbutay, election director of Northern Mindanao; Teopisto Elnas Jr., Director 4 of the election and barangay affairs division; Cirilo Nala Jr., Comelec supervisor of Surigao del Sur; and Francisco Pobe, election director of CARAGA Region.

Cayetano raised the issue to Brillantes during his confirmation hearing before the Commission on Appointments (CA) last month. He was bypassed by the CA and will appear again for another hearing on Aug. 9.

Malacañang has indicated that President Aquino will reappoint Brillantes so that he can continue his work in the poll body.

“Determining the absence or presence of these investigations is the first step in ensuring that we get to the heart of the matter, that is making sure that those involved in the “Hello, Garci” scandal are held accountable, Cayetano said.

Though Cayetano has some degree of interest in the confirmation hearings of Brillantes because his wife Taguig Mayor Ma. Laarni Cayetano is facing an electoral protest filed by former Supreme Court associate justice Dante Tinga, even his colleagues in the CA agreed that the continued presence of the officials involved in the Garci controversy must be explained by the Comelec chairman.

Sen. Franklin Drilon said that the revelations made by Cayetano during Brillanteshearing before the CA would definitely serve as a hindrance to his confirmation unless he can explain why the officials are still in the Comelec.

“As long as these problems are there, the assignment of the Garci boys, it will be a stumbling block to the confirmation of chairman Brillantes, Drilon said.

Drilon, a close ally of Aquino, said that the personalities involved in the controversy must be charged and convicted and not moved around the Comelec as Cayetano indicated.

“Maybe they have backers. Why this is so we do not know,he said.

The “Hello, Garci” scandal refers to the alleged widespread poll fraud that took place in the 2004 elections as evidenced by a series of wiretapped conversations between Garcillano and various politicians who ran that year.

Among the people who called up Garcillano was someone who sounded like former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Arroyo never admitted being the voice in the wiretapped conversations but issued an apology for her lapse in judgment by calling up an election officer to check on the status of her votes.

The opposition, led by the late actor turned politician Fernando Poe Jr., accused the former president of cheating, particularly in the ARMM where she managed to win by a significant margin over her rival. 

Comelec: Documents missing

Affidavits and other documents related to the investigation into the “Hello, Garci” controversy can no longer be found.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said documents gathered and the results of an investigation into the controversy burned in a fire that hit the poll body years ago.

“There was a resolution ordering an investigation on all those allegedly involved in the controversy,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the records were among those burned during the fire, but we are trying to reconstruct the documents although admittedly it would be difficult.”

Jimenez said all those involved in the alleged vote rigging were required to submit affidavits to the Commission.

“It appears that based on the affidavits, there was no reason to continue the investigation,” he said.

“But again we really have to wait until we are able to reconstruct the documents,” he pointed out.  – Marvin Sy, Mayen Jaymalin