LETTER TO THE EDITOR - Facts, questions on the Gloria-tape controversy

I've been closely watching the developments of the much-ballyhooed Gloria-tape controversy and I'd like to share some salient facts with the readers.

1.In a recent tv interview with Mr. Gene Orejana, former Comelec chair Christian Monsod admitted, albeit grudgingly, that "it isn't uncommon for candidates to call poll officials, and, yes, even Comelec commissioners, to inquire into the outcome of the elections"

2.If it were not for his notoriety, the conversation, therefore, between Garci and PGMA was not really "uncommon" between an anxious candidate and a poll official.

3.Having said that, unknown to many, perhaps, PGMA lost miserably in Iligan City in Mindanao where she grew up as a child, including her own protégé, then re-electionist mayor Franklin Quijano whose family roots, incidentally, are from Cebu.

4.If Garci were an effective "dagdag-bawas" operator, how come he was unable to "protect" the votes of PGMA right in her own turf in Iligan?

5.And how come Robert Barbers, a staunch, loyal partymate, as the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo intimated to Garci, lost to Biazon, a recalcitrant and, sometimes, maverick re-electionist, both of the ruling coalition party.

6.By the way, where's the "mother tape"? Is it with Lacson, or is it with Tatad, or with former NBI deputy director Samuel Ong or with Erap's counsel Paguia?

7.Is this the same Samuel Ong who organized a blitzkrieg presscon in Cebu shortly after the last elections and paraded "volunteer witnesses" whose faces were covered by hankies in the alleged election fraud here only to be unmasked by the driver of the van hired to pick up the jeepney and bus dispatchers paid to pose as "witnesses"?

8.And finally, what is the truth? Can the truth be ferreted out from the "mother tape" purportedly all three hours if played in its entirety, or from the "adulterated, spliced and altered" version of Erap's lawyer Paguia?

9.Is it the "truth" if the version favors the opposition and the perennial whiners, or, if the version favors the administration?
Benjamin R. Ypil
Mabolo, Cebu City