Inside the mind of the fake president

IF the Hyatt 10 had not told us about a July 5 Cabinet meeting where Gloria Arroyo talked about using "muscle" to counter protests against her crumbling administration, we would have dismissed Chavit Singson’s X-tape as pathetic.

Gloria Arroyo’s propagandists Ignacio Bunye and Rigoberto Tiglao can deny to high heavens that they had nothing to do with Singson’s crude tactic but the signs are there that it was a Malacañang-sponsored attempt to obfuscate the truth of election fraud exposed by the Garci tapes.

In that July 5 meeting, the Hyatt 10, Arroyo’s key officials who resigned and asked for her resignation in a press conference at the Hyatt Hotel last July 8, said that they were aghast when Arroyo blamed them for convincing her to admit and apologize over her conversations with Garcillano.

She reportedly said:,"You know, against the advice of my legal counsel, I followed your recommendation to admit and apologize. Now I’m getting all the flak and I’m constrained to use muscle." (the reason why Arroyo was forced to apologize was because the 10 cabinet members threatened to resign if she did not come clean to the public. - John Marzan)

Then Social Services Secretary Dinky Soliman and Budget Secretary Emy Boncodin were aghast. It was there that they realized that there was really no contrition on Arroyo’s part despite her June 27 "I am sorry" televised address.

Arroyo proceeded to explain her plan to show the opposition that they have "muscle". "From now on, (Davao Mayor Rodrigo) Duterte and (Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward) Hagedorn will have a prominent role."

Duterte had threatened that he will establish a Mindanao republic if Arroyo was ousted. This prompted then Agriculture Secretary Rene Villa, who is a lawyer, to remark, "Are we engaging in a state-sanctioned secession?" Shouldn’t we be distancing ourselves from Duterte?

Villa also remarked that throughout the Garci tapes controversy, Malacañang’s line was to uphold the "rule of law" to justify its silence on the illegally obtained phone conversations as well as in ignoring calls for Arroyo’s resignation. He pointed out that Duterte’s threat is "against the law."

Arroyo’s reply: "Duterte said if they remove me, that’s against the law. So, if we react in such manner, we are just correcting a violation of the law."
"That’s tortured logic," the flabbergasted Villa remarked. Three days after, he and nine others called it quits.

Duterte was joined later by Singson, hero of Edsa Dos that installed Arroyo as unelected president in 2001, who also announced his plan to secede Ilocos Sur from the Philippines if Arroyo is ousted.

Now we have Singson’s X-tape, containing conversations by Joseph Estrada and former AFP chief Joselin Nazareno about protecting the votes of Jinggoy Estrada who was a senatorial candidate (the young Estrada won) and an unidentified man telling Estrada about doing away with Pandak (midget) and Tanda (old man).

Alecks Pabico of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism said Chavit’s X-tape which was made allegedly with the help of aging rocker Ramon RJ Jacinto, was so amateurishly done, it’s an "insult to pirates."

Chavit, claimed that it was part of the Sammy Ong and Allan Paguia tapes. Hello? Where was he all these weeks when it had been established that it was Garcillano who was wiretapped. Where is Garcillano in the X-tape?

The choice of RJ to accompany Singson in presenting the X-tape didn’t help in the credibility aspect. RJ is the former brother-in-law of Mike Arroyo. His first wife is the sister of Mike.

Jacinto owns radio station DZRJ and RJTV located at Ventures Bldg. on Makati Avenue which propagated anti-Erap materials at the height of Edsa Dos in 2001 and anti-FPJ slogans during the 2004 election campaign. A DZRJ staff said they noticed many visitors and heightened activities in the studio the past two weeks. One even remarked that there seemed to be "an infusion of funds."

Jacinto’s record as a businessman is far from spotless. As vice-chairman of the flagship committee during the Ramos administration, Jacinto was reported to have obtained P2.9 billion from the Philippine National Bank (PNB) in 1996 and P400 million from the Land Bank in 1994 under questionable circumstances.

Arroyo’s defenders especially Environment Secretary Mike Defensor and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales have always reminded people that the anti-wiretapping law makes possession of wiretapped materials a crime. That’s why Gonzales had threatened those having and distributing the Garci tapes with arrest. Why are they not threatening Singson and Jacinto with arrest?

Singson’s X-tape also proved that the Arroyo administration is engaging in the illegal activity of wiretapping. Chavit’s Malacañang-sponsored tactic smacks of what Rene Villa described as "tortured logic."

Tortured talaga. Thanks Ellen for this article.