'Hello, Garci' scandal witnesses are welcome, says Palace

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano is welcome to present to the public all the evidence he has to prove that former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo cheated in the May 2004 elections, a Malacañang official said yesterday.

“Many of us have been asking repeatedly what really happened in the ‘Hello Garci’ scandal, and I think the question on the legitimacy of the presidency of Ms. Arroyo started from the fact that a call was made to a Comelec (Commission on Elections) commissioner,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

He said if Cayetano can provide other leads to the alleged electoral fraud committed by former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, “then this would always be a welcome development.”

“We would like that to be resolved. And if Sen. Cayetano has a witness, then by all means he can do so, this is his biggest crusade for the longest time,” he said.

Cayetano, then a congressman from Taguig-Pateros, was a member of the opposition that called for the impeachment of Arroyo thrice.

Overstaying ARMM Comelec official

Meanwhile, Malacañang raised concern over reports that one of the suspected manipulators in the “Hello Garci” scandal has remained a Comelec officer in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

“If it’s true, certainly it is a concern for us,” admitted Lacierda, in reference to the post now held by Ray Sumalipao, now acting Comelec director in ARMM.

He clarified, however, that it would be up to Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes to transfer Sumalipao to a post other than ARMM, known for command votes delivered to administration candidates in every election.

Lacierda noted that Malacañang cannot direct the Comelec – an independent constitutional body whose commissioners can only be removed through impeachment – on what to do because it is not under the executive department of the the government.

Sumalipao’s stay had been one of the reasons Brillantes’ appointment was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments on the objection of Cayetano.

Brillantes will face the bicameral body again on Aug. 9.

The CA is the constitutionally mandated body composed of members of Congress that scrutinizes the appointments made by the President.

It has the power to accept or reject the appointments.

Cayetano said other key players in the “Hello Garci” scandal are still holding key posts in the government.

They are Renault Macarambon of Lanao del Sur who is currently head of the Comelec’s election and barangay affairs division; Renato Magbutay, election director of Region X; 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 the CARAGA region.

In the 2004 elections when massive cheating allegedly took place, Sumalipao was then assistant election director of Region 11 and concurrent acting election director of the ARMM.

The “Hello Garci” controversy involves a series of wiretapped conversations between Garcillano and several politicians who ran in the May 2004 elections.

Arroyo, who won a fresh six-year term in that election, eventually issued an apology for what she said was poor judgment in calling up an election official to ask about the status of her votes.

Cayetano said that he was surprised why Sumalipao was tasked by Brillantes to handle the ARMM elections originally scheduled for Aug. 8 this year.

The polls will now be postponed after Congress voted to synchronize it with the 2013 midterm elections.

In the 2004 elections, the camp of the late actor and presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. alleged that massive poll fraud took place in Mindanao where he was supposed to have a strong support base but lost by a wide margin to Arroyo.

Though it was never proven that the former president benefited from cheating in the 2004 polls, several critics of Arroyo, including Cayetano, never considered the “Garci” issue closed.

Cayetano doubted the sincerity of Brillantes in bringing closure to the scandal because he has not done anything about the key officials in the controversy.

“When you said you were preparing for the ARMM polls before we passed a law to postpone it to 2013, I have to question why you not only chose to go manual but even chose attorney Sumalipao to handle it. What will the perception be based on that?” Cayetano said.

“You have to ask who was involved and where are they now. You cannot use due process as a reason because the President did not appoint you to become the lawyers of these officials in question. If we retain the same people in ARMM then any form of reform will just be on paper,” he added.

Apart from Brillantes, two Cabinet members of President Aquino – Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman – were also considered bypassed because the CA never got to go over their appointments.