An apology is not enough

Ellen Tordesillas continues to dissect the GLORIAGATE tapes. Check out PNP chief Arturo Lomibao's role in this:

I THINK people who are advising Gloria Arroyo to admit that she is the one on the taped conversations with Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano have not listened to the full three-hour recording or even the 90-minute version.

One business leader I talked with, who admitted not having listened to the whole taped conversation, said "Maybe if she would just apologize for the impropriety that she committed by talking with an election commissioner, people will forgive her and we can go on with our lives."

No way that Arroyo would admit it because the conversation is damning. It shows the President of the country conspiring with an official of an independent, constitutional body to subvert the will of the people.

The scheme Arroyo and Garcillano discussed not only required simple vote shaving; it also included using officials of the Armed Forces and the PNP as the dirty tricks operators.

It’s a violation of the Constitution that states: "Professionalism in the Armed Forces…shall be the prime concern of the State. The armed forces shall be insulated from partisan politics. No member of the military shall engage directly or indirectly in any partisan activity except to vote."

Take this June 2, 2004 conversation where Garcillano was telling Arroyo that Gen. Gabriel Habacon did a bad job of tampering with elections results because the statement of votes and the certificate of canvass didn’t match:

GMA: Hello, dun ba sa Lanao del Sur tsaka sa Basilan yun lang bang match dun sa SOV sa COC?

Garcillano: Kuwan ho yan, ang sinasabi nila wala na naman ho?

GMA: Hindi nagma-match.

Garcillano: Hindi nagma-match. May posibilidad na di magma-match kung hindi nila sinunod yung individual SOV ng mga munisipyo, pero ewan ko lang ho kung sa atin pabor o hindi kasi dun naman sa Basilan tsaka Lanao Sur, itong ginawa nila na pagpataas sa inyo hindi naman ho kuwan, maayos naman ang paggawa e.

GMA: So nagma-match?

Garcillano: Oho. Sa Basilan ay iyon ay pahabol na naman ng mga military dun, hindi masyado marunong kasi silang gumawa e, katulad sa Sulu, si General Habacon. Pero hindi naman ho kinausap ko kanina yung Chairman ng Board sa Sulu, ang akin pa patataguin ko na muna yung EO (election officer) ng Paguntaran na para hindi siya maka-testigo ho.

Results of the Panguntaran election support Garcillano’s statement about Habacon’s ineptitude. The minority report of the results of the 2004 presidential election showed that "In the town of Panguntaran, the number of registered voters is 11,080. But if you add up all the votes cast for the five presidential candidates, the total is a glaring 11,468, much more than the actual voters registered."

The report also said: "In Panguntaran, Sulu, GMA originally had 716 votes while FPJ had 4,252, as appearing in the municipal COC. But in the SOV/M, the votes of GMA became 8,716, while the votes of FPJ became 2252.

Military officials were divided into pro-GMA and pro-opposition. Woe to those suspected to be the latter like Brig. Gen. Francisco Gudani, who was pulled out of Marawi on May 11, 2004, a day after the election, in violation of the rules that personnel transfers in the military cannot take place from election day and 30 days after. Unrest among the ranks of the Marines compelled the military leadership to return Gudani to Marawi.

The use of the military to make sure that Arroyo got the presidency is clear in her May 28 conversation with Garcillano:

Garci: Hello, good evening ma’am.

GMA: Hello, si the FPJ camp raw will file a case against the Board of Canvassers of ano, dun sa Marawi and the Military?

Garci: Ano, ma’am?

GMA: The FPJ camp raw will file a case against the Board of Canvassers and the military in Marawi.

Garci: Hindi naman po siguro nila maa-ano yung ating Board of Canvassers, pero ang military, si Gudani, sa kanila si Gudani. I do not know why they will file.

GMA: Oo, oo.

Garci: Sa kanila si Gudani Ma’am. In fact I have to work with Gen. Esperon and Gen. Kyamco na at that time. Pinalitan nga namin si Gudani for a while.

PNP Chief Arturo Lomibao, who was then head of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, figured several times in the tape. One was between GMA and Garcillano on June 6, 2005.

Garci: Evening po ma’am. Dumating.

GMA: Ah dumating... dapat sigurado ang mga documents consistent sa Maguindanao.

Garci: Ah, hindi ninyo naman ho masyadong problema sa Maguindanao. Pero ano ho yung itinext ninyo kagabi na may mga fake precincts na ako daw ang mastermind.

GMA: Oo, oo.

Garci: Pero ma’am ano ba naman. Hindi ko maintindihan what they are trying to drive at when 120 days before elections established na ang precincts.

GMA: Ah ok, ok. siguro ano, shot in the dark lang yun, but I’m just letting you know everything I find out para we can always make the appropriate remedies.

Garci: Si General Lomibao nasa Zamboanga na. I have all the people around us talk to him so that they will be able to prevent who is going to work.

GMA: Ok. Ok. Ok. Thank you.

Lomibao’s name was also mentioned in the plan to kidnap Hadja Rashma Hali, the election officer in Tipo-tipo, Basilan who initially reported that Fernando Poe, Jr. was a victim of vote shaving. GMA’s political operatives accused opposition lawyers of kidnapping Hali. Later Hali just kept quiet. In one conversation of Garcillano with an unidentified man, he said: "Sabagay, medyo matindi na ito. Kasi nandoon naman si Lomibao."

No wonder Lomibao is now deeply active in Malacañang’s operation to discredit the taped conversation as what he did with T/Sgt. Vidal Doble.

Senate President Jovito Salonga , who advised Arroyo to tell the truth, cited the cases of two American presidents, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. He said, "What happened to Clinton may happen to her."

Clinton , who had to go through an impeachment trial, apologized after admitting that he lied about his sexual indiscretions with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The Senate threw out the charges and he went on to win a second term.

But Clinton’s transgression is of no comparison to Arroyo’s. Clinton’s was a marital offense. In Arroyo’s case, it’s a crime against the Filipino people. She subverted the will of the people expressed in an election. It’s a betrayal of public trust.

The suggestion of Senators Aquilino Pimentel and Serge Osmeña is more appropriate: Do a Nixon. Resign.

WORD. About the Nixon suggestion.