Confessed Felon

THAT’S the problem with lying. You start with a lie and you cover it up with another lie.

That’s what Gloria Arroyo did in her much-awaited statement on the Gloria-Garci tapes Monday evening. Explaining what she can only admit as a "lapse in judgment," she said," I was anxious to protect my votes and during that time had conversations with many people, including a Comelec official. My intent was not to influence the outcome of the election, and it did not."

In a text message, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel said: "Her apology insincere based on half truths, e.g. she said election over when she talked with Garcillano. Not true. Voting day done but counting and canvass ongoing."

Let’s recall the important dates: Election day was May 10, 2004. The canvassing of the votes for presidential and vice-presidential candidates by Joint Committee of Congress started June 7, 2004. Arroyo was proclaimed "winner" dawn of June 20, 2004.

Last week of May, canvassing in Lanao Sur was not yet completed. That’s why in the May 29, 2004 conversation of Arroyo and Garcillano, they talked about compensating her loss to Fernando Poe Jr. with votes they were expecting from Lanao.

Take a look at this May 29, 2004, 9:43 in the morning conversation:

GMA: Hello...

Garci: Hello, ma’am, good morning. Ok ma’am, mas mataas ho siya pero mag-compensate po sa Lanao yan.

GMA: So I will still lead by more than one M., overall?

Garci: More or less, it’s the advantage ma’am. Parang ganun din ang lalabas.

GMA: It cannot be less than one M.?

Garci: Pipilitin ma’am natin yan. Pero as of the other day, 982.

GMA: Kaya nga eh...

Garci: And then if we can get more in Lanao..

GMA: Hindi pa ba tapos?

Garci: Hindi pa ho, meron pa hong darating na seven municipalities.

GMA: Ah ok, ok.

Marvic Leonen, UP vice president for legal affairs, made a good point in a TV interview. She said if Arroyo’s purpose was only to protect her votes, why didn’t she call up Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos, who was officially in charge of Mindanao? (Garcillano’s official jurisdiction was Southern Tagalog)

The Gloria-Garci tape showed that rigging of the election results in favor of Arroyo was done much earlier and she was making sure that it was carried out. Take this conversation 10:29 in the evening of June 2, 2004 where the Comelec commissioner, who had the reputation as an accomplished dagdag bawas operator, assured her that "yung ginawa nilang magpataas sa inyo, maayos naman ang paggawa eh. (The upward adjustment they did for you was done well.)

Garci: Hello, ma’am. Good evening.

GMA: Hello, dun sa Lanao del Sur at Basilan, di raw nagmamatch

ang SOV sa COC.

Garci: Ang sinasabi nya, nawawala na naman ho?

GMA: Hindi na nag-match.

Garci: Hindi na nag-mamatch? May posibilidad na hindi magmatch kung hindi nila sinunod yung individual SOV ng mga munisipyo. Pero aywan ko lang ho kung sa atin pabor o hindi. Dun naman sa Basilan at Lanao Sur, ito ho yung ginawa nilang magpataas sa inyo, maayos naman ang paggawa eh.

GMA: So nag-mamatch?

Garci: Oho, sa Basilan, alam nyo naman ang mga military dun eh, hindi masyadong marunong kasi silang gumawa eh. Katulad ho dun sa Sulu, sa General Habacon. Pero hindi naman ho, kinausap ko na yung Chairman ng Board sa Sulu, ang akin, patataguin ko muna ang EO ng Paguntaran na para hindi sila maka-testigo ho.

In that conversation, Arroyo and Garcillano were apparently talking about fraudulently prepared statement of votes and certificates of votes which were not matched. Garcillano told the President that the military didn’t know how to do it, like General Habacon in Sulu.

In her statement last Monday, Arroyo mentioned her "constitutional oath of office."

The Constitution, which she had pledged to uphold, states that "The armed forces shall be insulated from partisan politics. No member of the military shall engage directly or indirectly in any partisan political activity, except to vote."

Yet, in the tape, she was not heard objecting to Garcillano’s information that the military was being used to manufacture election results. She also did not say anything when the Comelec commissioner told her something tantamount to obstruction of justice by making the election officer of Paguntaran (Cipriano Ebron) hide so he won’t be able to testify.

And does protecting her votes justify kidnapping an election officer? Twice on June 7, 2004, Arroyo called up Garcillano worried that Rashma Hali, the election officer of Tipo-tipo who had witnessed dagdag bawas, might be in the custody of the opposition.

Two days earlier, Garcillano was talking with a certain "Boy" about enlisting the help of Lt. Col. Salahuddin Undug, the Intelligence officer in Zamboanga to get Hali.

The conversation was straight out of a gangster film:

Boy: Hello, sir. Si Rashma Hali parang nandyan sa Maynila

Gary: Nasa Maynila? Naku delikado. Hindi ba natin makontak?

Boy: Naka-off ang cellphone. Pinahanap ko sa ISAFP.

Gary: Ah ....delikado yan.

Boy: Oo nga, sabi ko sa ISAFP Col Undug sa Zamboanga para may bargaining chip tayo dyan, eh damputin na natin yung pamilya din niya. Para din na siya makapagsalita. Kasi delikado yan eh.

Gary: Maghanap ka lang yung well-meaning na kamag-anak nya. Wag mo munang pakikidnap yung pamilya. Soft touch muna na puwedeng maka-persuade sa kanya.

Lawyer Frank Chavez said Arroyo’s Monday confession won’t save her. "She is irreparably damaged."

Chavez said: "Apology accepted. But we demand justice. You can’t let a robber go just because he apologized. As of 7:07 p.m. of June 27, 2005, Gloria Arroyo is a confessed felon."

Another excellent article from Ellen Tordesillas.