Sunday 31st July, 2011 (Source: GMA News)
Away from the public eye for over a year, former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano surfaced on Saturday amid new questions about election cheating to insist he did not help rig the 2004 presidential elections in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
"Nasabi ko na lahat ng sasabihin ko. Ano pa makukuha nila sa akin?" Garcillano said at a press conference in Bukidnon when asked if he could provide information to help prove there was cheating in the 2004 elections.
The former poll official even offered to help the Aquino administration reform the electoral system in the Philippines.
Garcillano's public statements coincided with renewed public interest in ferreting out the truth about alleged poll fraud in 2004, following claims of more evidence by some groups.
Last Friday, a group of cops, led by Senior Superintendent Rafael Santiago, turned over to the Justice department supposed evidence that would prove that original election returns were replaced with fake ones to cover up the alleged cheating in 2004.
Last Thursday, Sen. Panfilo Lacson released a set of video clips – which came from another policeman – showing alleged ballot switching inside the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City, where they were being kept.
"Hindi ako kumokontra sa administrasyon ngayon. Kung gusto nila ayusin ito, ako ay kasali nila diyan. Halimbawa reform ang gusto nila, I will be with them," Garcillano said.
Garcillano is a key figure in the “Hello Garci" poll-fraud scandal that broke out in 2005.
The ‘Hello,Garci’ Scandal
"Hello, Garci" refers to the alleged wiretapped conversations where vote rigging in the 2004 elections was discussed by, among others, a woman presumed to be President Arroyo and a man believed to be Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
Ironically, the controversy that nearly toppled the Arroyo administration was triggered at the Palace, when then Presidential spokesperson Ignacio Bunye released CDs of the "Hello, Garci" conversations on June 6, 2005, presumably to pre-empt an opposition bombshell.
Days later, former NBI Deputy Director Samuel Ong presented what he claimed to be the "mother of all tapes" of the wiretapped conversations.
The revelation led to House and Senate investigations, as well as calls for President Arroyo's resignation.
Arroyo refused to step down. She admitted talking to a Comelec official during the canvassing period and apologized, in a nationally televised address, for her "lapse in judgment" in making such calls to an election official.
However, she said the conversations occurred after the votes had been counted. She did not name the Comelec official she talked to.
Garcillano's whereabouts became a mystery after the "Hello, Garci" CDs came out; there were rumors that he slipped out of the country.
He surfaced about six months later, admitting that he had conversed with then President Arroyo during the canvassing period – after the votes had been counted.
He denied that Arroyo instructed him to cheat in the 2004 elections. — GMA News Research Read more
The scandal involved wiretapped conversations (about rigging of 2004 poll results) between Garcillano and many personalities, including a female voice believed to be that of then President Gloria Arroyo.
Insisting there was no rigging of presidential poll results in 2004, Garcillano said: “The results of the election speak for that. If there was no cheating they are alleging to be committed by me or any other person, then GMA [Gloria Macapagal Arroyo] won the election... The conversation I had with the former president was 10 days after the elections. So paano kami magtse-cheat kung after the elections na?"
“Sa akin kung sasabihing ako nandadaya, hindi ako nandadaya (To those claiming I took part in cheating, I am telling them I never cheated)," he added.
“Wala siyang inutos sa akin na mag-cheat (She did not order me to cheat)," he said of his conversation with Arroyo.
"I am not a Superman who could cheat by myself," he added.
No to DOJ-Comelec probe
Asked if he was willing to cooperate in the looming joint investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) into supposed 2004 poll fraud, Garcillano said: "Sa ngayon, hindi [For now, I don't think so]."
He also downplayed the claims of Commission on Elections head Sixto Brillantes Jr. that there was indeed cheating in 2004, saying Brillantes had been the lawyer of Arroyo’s opponent, the late Fernando Poe Jr (FPJ).
“Abogado siya ni FPJ, mahirap din yan. Kahit si Leila abogado rin (Brillantes was a lawyer of Poe. Even de Lima was a lawyer for the then opposition)," he said of Brillantes and de Lima.
Garcillano said he came out so he could shed light on what really happened in the 2004 elections and at the same time clear his name, which he said has already become synonymous to cheating.
"Help me educate the people about what happened and in the future we can include this as a subject of discussion when we have seminars or sa schools i-include natin ito. Kasi ngayon kapag sinabing Garci, cheating kaagad ang naiisip," he said.
Conversation with Arroyo
Garcillano said ever since the wiretapped conversations were made public, he made it a point not to contact Mrs. Arroyo so the two of them would not be accused of "protecting each other's back."
Garcillano said nowhere in the wiretapped conversation was Mrs. Arroyo heard ordering him to cheat in the polls. He said Mrs. Arroyo was merely "complaining" why her votes went down after the canvassing in Lanao del Sur.
“Ganoon po ba ma’am? Sabi nya, 'oo.' Sige po titingnan ko po (I asked her if that was the case. She said it was. I told her I would look into it)," he said.
Garcillano also confirmed that officials from Malacañang had tried contacting him through text messages at least twice this month. He said he received the first one "July 12 or 13" and the second one on July 28, or last Thursday.
He said a certain "Jasper" was the sender of the text messages.
Helping Aquino admin
Garcillano said he is willing to help the Aquino administration in enacting electoral reforms, even as he called for an education campaign on the electoral process.
Otherwise, he said there will always be people who claim they were cheated in the elections.
“I can contribute... We are talking about elections, which I am known for. I already said we should start by educating our people," he said.