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.

More thoughts on ABS-CBN, GMA7, PDI and Philstar's pa-tanga-tanga attitude

Ya know, it's also possible that ABS-CBN, GMA7, PDI and Philstar may have already had the tapes verified, pero ayaw pa nilang ilabas ang resulta.

;)

Previous post on their Pa-tanga tanga attitude here.

Another GLORIAGATE roundup

Must-read article from Lito Banayo on "the walkout that never was." Dami akong napulot sa article niya na hindi ko alam before.

Who's Atty. Lintang Bedol? Well, he's another player in the GLORIAGATE scandal.

Garcillano has already left the country via southern backdoor with Sec. Ebdane's help. That's too bad because:

The five House committees probing the Gloria-gate tapes have not issued Garcillano an invitation as no hearing has been scheduled. They were supposed to send letters to Gloria, Garcillano and everybody else purportedly caught on the tapes seeking an explanation, but the letters have yet to be sent.

I smell a coverup.

Arroyo's Other "Achievements"

UPDATE: The list has been updated after GMA's SONA speech.

It's not just about GMA's election cheating that I'm angry about, folks.

When GMA loyalists claim that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is the only person that can "fix the Philippines", na siya raw ang "savior" ng Pinas, and that we need to keep her na lang kahit na nandaya siya because she is the "lesser evil", all I can say is -- NOT IF YOU HAVE THESE AS YOUR OTHER "ACCOMPLISHMENTS"

The True State of the Nation Address is shown in President Gloria M. Arroyo's shameful record unmatched in Philippine history:

1) The first Chief Executive to be formally accused in Congress of cheating, lying and stealing.

2) The highest level of public debt (P6 trillion) and the biggest amount of foreign borrowing (more than Presidents Corazon Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada combined).

3) The biggest number of downgrades of American, British and Japanese credit rating firms.

4) The No. 2 most corrupt country in Asia in a survey of 102 countries according to the World Economic Forum and Asian Development Bank. Now also confirmed in the CBCP statement calling for “reforms” in her “graft-ridden” government. Estimates of amounts lost to corruption reach as high as P200 billion.

5) The most dangerous place for journalists in the whole world, 2nd only to war-torn Iraq according to the New York- based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and earlier the London based ICJ. And the killings of judges, prosecutors and lawyers are also common. Index crimes are up 15 percent over last year.

6) The new shabu-manufacturing center in Asia with the number of drug users multiplying rapidly. Marijuana plantations in the highlands are increasing.

7) The harshest repression of freedom of speech and of assembly topped by a no permit, no rally policy. Control of media is Malacañang's policy.

8) The highest unemployment rate (20.3 percent adult unemployment rate as reported by SWS) and the highest underemployment rate (26 percent) including the collapse of the garment industry. UP Economics professor Dr. Ernesto Pernia found out that with 1.4 million new entrants to the labor force yearly, GMA created only 800,000 new jobs annually, many of them casual or part-time.

9) The weakest link in the war on terror and the loss of standing and respect in the international community accompanied by a deterioration of US-Philippine relations. Mindanao has been tagged as a terrorist training ground.

10) The most expensive and the most fraudulent elections held ever on May 10, 2004, now documented on tape and prefabricated election returns and certificates of canvass. A ranking DBM official has now revealed that P750 million was released to PhilHealth before the elections and more than P3 billion has been spent for the alagaan mo ang kalsada natin election gimmicks.

11) The fastest deterioration in the poverty line from 32 percent under President Erap to 53 percent in four years of GMA with a Ph.D. in Economics. Hunger stalks the land with 58 percent saying they are not eating properly, with many saying they eat only once a day. Many are even selling their bodies or their organs just to survive.

12) Interference with the Supreme Court and other inferior courts highlighted by mediocre appointments to the judiciary stressing political paybacks and personal loyalty to GMA.

13) The most number of casinos and gambling establishments and proliferation of gambling operations nationwide topped by an importation of 60,000 slot machines and a jueteng payola reaching billions of pesos. We are now one big gambling parlor.

14) The highest dollar-peso exchange rate (P56.50 to $1).

15) The highest importation of rice over a four-year period (about 6,000 metric tons) indicating a failure in agriculture and agrarian reform amid claims of billions in kickbacks.

16) The highest prices of oil products ever (P33.80 per liter for premium).

17) The most number of foreign and domestic trips by a President accompanied by a big entourage, a big travel budget.

18) The most number of adverse travel advisories released by foreign governments against travel to the Philippines.

19) The largest number of retired AFP and PNP officers appointed to civilian positions.

20) The biggest number of doctors, nurses, managers, professionals, even domestics and caregivers leaving the country with 7,000 braving death or injury in Iraq. An estimated 10,000 doctors have left or about to leave the country as nurses.

21) The biggest percentage increase of service and clearance fees, toll (3,000 percent), license fees, ever imposed by any administration. You even have to pay to enter an NBI office.

22) The lowest amount ($14 million) of foreign investment in any given year aggravated by the departure of major investors for China such as FedEx lately.

23) The biggest number of pyramid scams, pre-need plans, bankruptcy, thereby a failure to protect the consumer.

24) Condemnation by the German government and business associations on the Fraport-Piatco issue.

25) The Peace Bonds scam giving away P1.3 billion to Code NGO and incurring a P35 billion additional debt in the process.

26) The biggest amount of unpaid pensions to AFP and PNP retirees (P17 billion). And unpaid DPWH contracts.

27) The biggest importer of used cars and tax-free luxury cars highlighting a record of smuggling.

28) The emergence of fake US treasury bills, fake dollar and peso bills, fake drugs, fake CDs and VCDs, fake brand name products, fake recruiters, fake passports, topped by a fake President, fake Vice President and fake senators. And now a fake impeachment complaint.

29) The first President to send her spouse into exile.

30) The first President whose Sona address is boycotted by a big number of senators and congressmen.

What do all these amount to? A failure of governance by the worst administration in our 107-year history.

Interpreting the GLORIAGATE conversations

from Randy David.

Do I sense panic among the pro-Arroyo members in Pinoyexchange?

Reading some of their posts last night at Pinoyexchange, pansin ko medyo nagiging hysterical at desperate yung mga maka-Arroyo sa Local and Foreign Issues forum, even if they put on a brave face and claim na magfi-"fizzle out" lang ang Gloriagate at palpak raw ito.

And the Malacanang PEx Boys and Girls Choir are back in full force sa LAFI ever since lumabas ang Gloriagate. There's even one Malacanang guy I know who used to post in LAFI, and who I haven't seen in a long time, making a rare PEx appearance to post his usual GMA "press releases" here and here. (Ahhh, the good old days in PEx...)

Then there's another pro-Arroyo supporter who last night tried to revive some old LAFI threads (re 4-5 years old) para lang mabaon yung mga threads re Gloriagate and other current issues. Tee-Hee...

Anyways, nice to see you again, C_therea. Now if you can only invite m'lady back in PEx para may reunion ng mga old Malacanang operators sa LAFI...

Gloriambino Crime Family

A Pinoyexchange poster coined the term. I like it.

Bagay siya dahil parang Mafia talaga ang pamilyang Arroyo eh, the way they run their criminal and corruption enterprise inside Malacanang, and the way they use their thugs to kidnap or silence potential whistleblowers.

There's Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as the Don. There's her corrupt husband Mike Arroyo aka "Jose Pidal". Nandiyan din yung dumb Brod-in-law Congressman Iggy Arroyo -- Mr. and Mrs. Pidal's favorite fallguy, the guy who ends up helping the Pidals coverup their scams. And then there's her juetenglord son and future Gloriambino boss Mikey Arroyo.

Bakit naka-tanga lang ang GMA7, ABS-CBN at PDI?

Why don't they take the initiative at ipa-verify ang tape ni Paguia at Ong sa mga credible audio tape experts overseas? Ayaw ba nilang malaman ang katotohanan? Ano pa ba ang hinihintay nila? Pasko?

Alam naman natin na ayaw ipa-check ng Malacanang ang Paguia Tape sa FBI eh, so there's no using waiting around for them to change their mind.

Bakit napaka-meek nila pagdating sa Arroyo Admin? Kung si Erap ang nasa pwesto at sya ang nahuli sa tape na nagplaplanong mandaya o magnakaw, do you think GMA7, the Inquirer and ABS-CBN would accept an Erap admin ban on the airing of this incriminating tape?

Do you think that they would just accept Malacanang's line na "peke" ito without question?

Kung kaya ng Inquirer na magpadala ng reporter sa states para "imbestigahan" ang "Billion dollar hidden wealth" ni lacson, I'm sure kaya rin nilang ipa-check yung tape sa isang independent at credible na expert.

So Nagma-match? Nagko-Correspond? Kumpleto?

So Nagma-match? Nagko-Correspond? Kumpleto?

From Ellen Tordesillas, on the June 2, 2004 Conversation between Arroyo and Garcillano re the SOVs and COCs "not matching":

one way to find out the truth is to go back to the situation on the ground at the time those conversations took place that was from May 17, 2004 to June 18, 2004.

The conversations between Garcillano and then senatorial candidate Robert Barbers correspond with the circumstances behind the cliffhanger victory of Sen. Rodolfo Biazon for the 12th slot in the Senate.

Arroyo used the word to "match" in inquiring about their post-election operations in Mindanao. Let us then try to match the taped conversations with what happen at that time.

This took place June 2, 2004:

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 Habaton. 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.

In another conversation, Arroyo used the word "correspond".

GMA: Meron tayo scheduled (garbled) ER para sa Sulu?

Garcillano: Saan po, Ma’am?

GMA: Sa Sulu, Sulu?

Garcillano: Oo, Ma’am, meron

GMA: Nagko-correspond? Kumpleto?

Garcillano: Oho, Ma’am. Lahat po meron. Hindi naming ika-count kung…

GMA: Okay, okay.

Garcillano’s observation that General Habaton didn’t do a good job is proven by the unmatching result in Panguntaran, Sulu. The minority report of the results of the 2004 presidential election showed that "In the town of Panguntaran, the number of registered 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.

What happened in Panguntaran was repeated in many other towns in Sulu and Lanao Sur.

And check out this one too on how cheating was done systematically by COMELEC officials along with the military.

In the June 8, 2004 conversation, the name of Hadji Abdullah Dalidig, chair of Namfrel Lanao del Sur was mentioned:

GMA: Garcy?

Garcillano: Hello Ma’m

GMA: Ano ang gagawin natin dun sa Namfrel presscon kanina yung Namfrel Lanao del Sur?

Garcillano: Inaano ko. Meron na ho akong kopya ng finax ni Nonong yung kay Dalidig pero that is not true because I have already asked my staff whom I assigned Lanao Sur pagkatapos ho si Rey Lumipao. The supervisor is coming and then we will also try to make them say something after this. Pagsasalitain ko sila ho without me, letting people know that I am the one monitoring.

GMA: Okay

In that Namfrel presscon Arroyo mentioned, Dalidig exposed that cheating in Lanao del Sur was done systematically by local Comelec officials with the military. Majority of the Namfrel volunteers were barred from the polling places. He said that Namfrel’s copy of election returns in the 39 municipalities of Lanao del Sur showed that Fernando Poe, Jr. had won by a wide margin.

Dalidig said last Saturday that the taped conversations vindicated him. He said that he reported the massive cheating to Namfrel Manila "but they took us lightly."

So Namfrel Manila pooh-poohed Diladig's report of massive cheating in Lanao del Sur. Why am I not fucking surprised?

It's nice to see that a few NAMFREL volunteers told the truth re the massive fraud involved, but the leadership in NAMFREL are in the sack with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Mr. Bill Luz and Mr. Jose Concepcion, staunchly Arroyo supporters both, were part of the "trending" operations to put Arroyo ahead of FPJ.

Downloadable "Hello Garci" Ringtone

get it here.

Overly Optimistic in Iraq. Overly Pessimistic in RP

Wretchard's anaysis of the Philippine situation is as pessimistic as he is overly optimistic in iraq. The argument he's using right now is the same one being used by Ignacio Bunye and it's pro-Arroyo allies in the media.

And it's not just re the stolen 2004 elections, Wretchard. It's also the way this administration tried to cover up and use mafia-like tactics to silence the whistleblowers.

Do yourself a favor and download the Paguia tapes (36 minutes) in PCIJ BLOG and read the transcripts first.

More on Rashma Hali

Well, well... what do you know? "Kinidnap" rin pala ng opposition si Rashma Hali noong 2004, according to GMA's Dept. of Justice officials.

Read this from the Inquirer:

THE JUSTICE department has created a special panel of prosecutors to handle the criminal charges against opposition lawyers Rufus Rodriguez, Harriet Demetriou and several others, Acting Justice Secretary Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez said Friday.

Gutierrez said the panel, headed by assistant chief state prosecutor Miguel Gudio Jr., would investigate the serious illegal detention and grave coercion charges that the police filed against Rodriguez and Demetriou, who are counsels of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (Coalition of United Filipinos, KNP).

The two lawyers were allegedly involved in the abduction of Radja Rashma Hali, 52, an election officer from Tipo-tipo, Basilan from May 31 until June 9. The opposition allegedly tried to convince Hali to testify against the administration on fraud charges in the May 10 elections.

Besides Hali, the opposition allegedly also abducted Hasim D. Sablin, a coordinator in Basilan of the Filipino for Peace and Justice Movement (FPJM) and Hali's daughter, Fherdaosia, 20.

The three were allegedly held in several places in Metro Manila, including in a safe house in Makati's Dasmariñas Village and the FPJ Studios in Quezon City.

"The DoJ will definitely look into the complaint and do what is necessary," Gutierrez said.

She said there was an allegation that Hali was not released until she agreed to testify for the opposition.

So yung opposition pala ang mahilig sa "kidnapping", sabi ng Arroyo administration, just like when they "kidnapped" Whistleblower Vidal Doble. Or when Lacson "kidnapped" whistleblower Mahusay.



Ellen Tordesillas has additional info on Rashma Hali:

On June 7, 2004, Arroyo called up Garcillano twice to inquire about a person from Tipo-Tipo. She was referring to Hadja Rashma Hali an election officer from Tipo-Tipo, Basilan.

GMA: Did you get my text about the Tipo Tipo?

Garcillano: Oho, oho Ma’m. Kuwan that is what I am being fearful about. Kung si Rashma Hali yon. That is why we are asking people to look for her so that we can confront her.

GMA: She’s probably being held by them.

Garcillano: Ma’m.

GMA: She’s probably being held by them already.

Garcillano: She is here, that is why if it is possible we will have her family call her up from Zamboanga.

GMA: Ok, ok.

Garcillano: Sige po Ma’m.

GMA: Hello

Garcillano: Yes, Ma’m.

GMA: Ano nahanap na ninyo?

Garcillano: Ma’m.

GMA: Ano nahanap na ninyo yung sa Tipo Tipo?

Garcillano: Ang Tipo Tipo ho hindi pa.

There were other conversations of Garcillano with an unidentified man about kidnapping Hali and her family.

Mid-June 2004 newspapers carried stories about kidnapping charges involving Hali and her daughter, Fherdaosia, filed by the administration against FPJ lawyers Harriet Demetriou and Rufus Rodriquez.

Demetriou said Hali came to her with tally sheets in the Tipo-Tipo count showing that FPJ was a victim of dagdag-bawas or vote shaving. To prove that Hali was not coerced, Demetriou had her revelations videotaped.

The kidnapping charges precipitated the walkout of other laywers of FPJ’s Kilusan ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino. After that, Hali changed her mind about exposing the election anomalies she witnessed.

Shades of the military-mounted operation to get T/Sgt Vidal Doble from the San Carlos Seminary last Monday.

Asked about the taped GMA-Garcillano taped conversation, Demetriou said yesterday: "Hindi natutulog ang Diyos" (God is not asleep.)

Related links:
- Police will "investigate" Doble's "illegal detention" at San Carlos Seminary
- More on the Rashma Hali "kidnapping" by Rufus Rodrigues and Harriet Demetriou here and here

Marami ang madadamay at masisira sa GLORIAGATE scandal

hindi lang ang presidente.

Off the top of my head, ito sila: NAMFREL, COMELEC, PET, the blatantly pro-Arroyo Mainstream Media, the pro-administration Conressmen and Senators who helped obstruct and stonewall any investigation (and prevent a recount of votes) on the massive election fraud that took place

I'm sure marami pa ang pwedeng idagdag diyan, pero later ko na lang siyang pag-iisipan.

Ang importante muna ay dapat lumabas ang katotohanan re Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her people's role in stealing the 2004 presidential elections.

Direct link for the GLORIAGATE transcript

can be found here. The transcript link will also permanently posted on the left side of this blog, just under the Yahoo searchbox, once I update my blog template.

Where's Rashma Hali?

In the Ellen Tordesillas article, siya yung COMELEC employee whistleblower (sa Paguia tape) na gustong patahimikin nina Garcillano and an unidentified man by kidnapping one of her relatives, to be used as a bargaining chip.

Ano nang nangyari sa kanya? Can somebody please get in touch with her.

I don't agree with Conrado de Quiros on many issues...

but you have to admit, the guy can write and make his case forcefully. His article today is another must read, lalo na sa mga pro-Arroyo holdouts diyan.

And read this too from Lito Banayo on Gloriagate.

Latest Craze: The "Hello Garci" Ringtone

From the Daily Tribune:

Using the introduction of “In the Club,” popularized by 50 Cents, the supposed voice of the President would come in saying “hello” four times after the sound of a ringing mobile phone.

Then comes the line “Hello Garci? Will I still lead by one million?,” before the 17-seconder ringing tone comes to an end.

It was gathered that the ring tones are available for download in various Internet cafes in the University Belt area in Manila.

Patok ang GLORIAGATE sa Philippine Politics 04

Check out my blog stats.

Some of the key words (or combination of words) na madalas hanapin ay:

"Gloriagate"
"GMA"
"tape"
"Arroyo"
"Garcillano"
"transcript"
"download"
"scandal"
"Gloria"
"PCIJ"

Anyways, advice ko sa mga gustong marinig yung tapes pero hindi alam kung ano ang ida-download (the fake bunye tapes, paguia tapes, "mother of all tapes" ni samuel ong) is to download the paguia tapes (36 minutes) kasi nandodoon na ang lahat ng mga damaging parts sa conversations nina Gloria Arroyo, Garci, and Robert Barbers.

Kung masochista ka at gusto mong marining ang lahat, then download Ong's complete version (3 hours), although most of the parts in that version i assume is just them talking re boring stuff like "kumusta na ang mga anak mo?" or "kumain ka na ba?" or "anong pinapanood mo ngayon sa tv?" LOL.

Of course, you can download the Paguia and Ong tapes at PCIJ blog. Nandoon rin ang mga transcripts.

How Gangsters Operate

This is how gangsters and Mafia operate in trying to silence witnesses and whistleblowers.

Conrado de Quiros:

Comes now the "rescue" of Sgt. Vidal Doble from the San Carlos Seminary led by his wife who claimed he was kidnapped by Ong and company and kept in the seminary under duress. Can anything be more ludicrous? It would be more believable if it hadn't happened before in the form of Mike Defensor raiding a safehouse in Tagaytay to "rescue" Udong Mahusay from the clutches of Lacson. Mahusay, Lacson's star witness in his case against Jose Pidal, alias Mike Arroyo, would later claim he was held against his will and knew he would be executed afterward. This, while being in the possession of a cell phone throughout the course of his abduction. To this day, Lacson has yet to be charged with kidnapping and frustrated homicide by Defensor and his boss.

A local saying puts it graphically: "Bumenta na 'yan." [It's an old script.] Can anyone possibly believe that Ong, whose teeth were chattering from fear in his press conference, could be in a position to kidnap anyone? Liwayway Chato, Ong's God-fearing lawyer, who was in San Carlos at the time, has another version. Doble was in fear for his family's life. They, and not he, were being held under duress by the authorities, and he had no choice but to give himself up to Socrates Villegas, the bishop who became famous by decrying the trampling by unshod feet of the Edsa Shrine as a sacrilege. Doble's case reminds me of Michael Corleone in "The Godfather II" bringing the father of a former associate who was about to testify against him in a Senate hearing as a veiled threat. The fellow promptly retracted his accusations. As Doble does now.

That's what we have now, a regime of gangsters. And they keep saying wiretapping is illegal!

Or read this article from Ellen Tordesillas and tell me that it didn't make your blood run cold.

And Wretchard, Max Soliven and the pro-Arroyo bloggers linked in Publius Pundit still think Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is a president worth keeping and hanging on to despite everything they know about him?

Soft touch before kidnap

Gloria Arroyo’s people didn’t need practice for the operation they mounted to get T/Sgt. Vidal Doble out of San Carlos Seminary last Sunday.

With his wife and children under the military’s custody, Doble succumbed to the pressure and turned around, discrediting the video tape that Samuel Ong, former NBI deputy director had presented as proof that he (Doble) had a hand in the taping of the conversations between Arroyo and Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano about rigging the 2004 elections.

The term they used is "soft touch". In the GMA-Garcillano tapes, the word "soft touch" appeared as they planned the kidnapping of a Comelec employee in Tipo-Tipo whom they feared was in the custody of the opposition.

Listening to the taped conversations, one would think the persons are gangsters planning a kidnapping operation. There’s a part where Garcillano was talking with an unidentified man about someone they want to be in their custody. They planned to pick up the person’s family members.

Here’s that portion of the tape:

Unidentified man: Nasa Manila.

Garcillano: Nasa Maynila? Delikado. Hindi ba natin ma-contact?

UM: Walang ano…Ini-off ang cell phone. Pinahanap ko sa isa.

Garcillano: Pakikuwan lang. Delikado yan.

UM: Oo nga. Sabi ko sa ISAFP dito (garbled) na Zamboanga para may bargaining chip tayo diyan, e damputin na natin yung pamilya na rin niya. Kasi baka makapagsalita.

Garcillano: Oo nga e.

After that, there was a portion where Garcillano told the unidentified man: Maghanap ka ng well-meaning na kamag-anak niya, Huwag mo munang ipakikidnap ang pamilya. Soft touch muna.

The conversation between Gloria Arroyo and Garcillano was about a certain Rashma Hali.

GMA: Did you get my text about Tipo-Tipo?

Garcillano: Oho, oho Ma’am. Kuwan, that is what I am being fearful about kung si Rashma Hali yun. That is why we are asking people to look for her so that we can confront her.

GMA: She’s probably being held by them.

Garcillano: Ma’am?

GMA: She is probably being held by them already.

Garcillano: She is here. That is why if it is possible, we will have her family call her up from Zamboanga.

GMA : Ok, ok.

The next GMA-Garcillano conversation was still about the Tipo-Tipo lady:

GMA: Hello

Garcillano: Yes, Ma’am.

GMA: Ano, nahanap na ninyo?

Garcillano: Ma’am?

GMA: Ano, nahanap na ninyo yung sa Tipo-Tipo?

Garcillano: Ang Tipo-Tipo ho, hindi pa.

Rashma Hali, the Tipo-Tipo lady, was still the subject of the conversation between Garcillano and the unidentified man:

Garcillano: Kaya ito, kung anuman, malalaman ko hanggang umaga ng maagang-maaga kung ano talaga ang score doon so I can (garbled) get his …her family kung halimbawa.

UM: Oo

Garcillano:Sabagay medyo matindi na ito. Kasi nandoon naman si Lomibao. Nandoon. Ewan ko kung sino pa ang nandoon. May isang colonel na nandoon. Sabi ko, kung kailangang kunin, kukunin na yung pamilya niya.

UM: Uh-hum

Garcillano: E Lokohan na rin ano. (garbled).. Walang naman alam yan.

UM: Kaya nga, kaya nga.

Garcillano: Eh, ewan ko, kung pupunta uli sa (garbled), pakidnap ko siya. Nakaano.

UM: Eh, hindi naman pumupunta. Pero ang balita ko, nandidito na sa Parañaque.

Garcillano: Nandito na yung ano.

UM: Nandito sa Parañaque noong Saturday.

Garcillano: Let us ask somebody to look for and get his..her family kung puede.


I tried calling up Garcillano yesterday and the guy who answered the phone said he was out of town. I asked where is "out of town". They guy said, "I don’t know."

I asked for Ellen Peralta, Garcillano’s executive secretary. In one of his conversations with then senatorial candidate Robert Barbers, Garcillano instructed the former to deliver the P1.5 million to Peralta.

The guy said Peralta was also not in. I asked where she was. He said, "I don’t know."

I asked who is running Garcillano’s office. He said, "I am."

I asked for his name and he said, "Francis Mina." I asked what is he in Garcillano’s office. He replied: "Utility." Janitor.

Not Wiretapper, Whistleblower

Yan na ang itatawag ko kay Samuel Ong at Vidal Doble.

My reply to Wretchard

Wretchard of the Belmont Club comments in his blog:

I'm not saying don't replace Gloria Macapagal. Do so by all means. But it won't make a difference.

Don't you realize you are just repeating the Malacanang Spokesperson's "talking points"?

And it is total horseshit to say that it's better to keep Gloria (even if she stole the last election and has no right calling herself president), because her replacements are "worse" or "just as bad" as her. Not only is that not true, but letting her stay and turning a blind eye to her corruption, incompetence and illegitimacy will only make matters worse.

If we don't correct this situation now by asking her to step down and call for a snap election, then these 2 worse-case scenarios will likely happen:

1) Military Junta with a Pervez Musharraf-like figure taking over our country.

2) Another Edsa replacing GMA with the last legitimate presdient we had, Joseph Estrada.

What's required is a two-point lift: the Philippines must reform the Armed Forces of the Philippines and replace the President. The existing Constitution, for all its defects, should remain intact.

Yes, but can we replace this president first? Or do we have to do it "simultaneously" like what you are suggesting? It's obvious that GMA is incapable of reforming the AFP since it was the military that helped install her to power in 2001.

And if I recall correctly, the military (and the police) under the previous administration wasn't as politicized or corrupt as the one under the Arroyo administration (because Estrada did not owe his presidency to the military, but via the ballot box).

Check Arroyo's cabinet and government appointments, there are many ex-military people holding top positions in government, probably rewarded for their role in Edsa Dos. Check out how this administration whitewashes the investigations against corrupt military officials like the ones involved in the Lamitan hostage situation (the Burnhams), or how they treat Gen. Carlos Garcia with kid-gloves.

In short, if you want to reform the military, the first move is to replace GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO. Then elect a president without any legitimacy problems. I suggest electing Sen. Lacson, who has done a magnificent job reforming the Philippine National Police under the previous administration, to make changes in the AFP.

Recent Pics from the GLORIAGATE scandal

Overkill?


What, Me Worry?

To the pro-Arroyo supporters out there, one question...

kung si GMA at si Garci ang nasa laman ng mga audio tapes ng opposition, will you ask Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign pronto?

Isa pa, I keep hearing from the pro-Arroyo media and GMA spokesperson Ignacio Bunye na we need to keep GMA (even if she cheated) because she's the only one who can turn this country around and save us from poverty and misery, and that we have "no alternative candidates" to replace her, because they're all bad raw.

First of all, the economy is in worse shape now that it has ever been. There were significantly more job losses and factory closing during Arroyo's first 3 years compared to the previous administration first 3 years. Ask ordinary Filipinos if they were better off now than they were 4 years ago, and a significant majority of them will say NO. We are living in uncertain times right now.

Also, the Pro-Arroyo people promised that edsa dos and GMA would help reduce corruption, but the opposite thing happened. Check Transparency International's ratings on the Philippines. Corruption is worse now than ever, even worse than during Erap, Cory and Ramos' time.

So she is not RP's "savior" and she is not indispensable, like some here want you to believe.

Second, who says that we don't have any alternatives for GMA? That's Bull***t! Lacson would make an excellent president. Bayani Fernando's there. Mar Roxas, Serge Osmena, Drilon, Joker Arroyo and Richard Gordon too. Heck, even Joe "Yoda" de Venecia would make a better president than GMA, which isn't saying a lot.

So with Lacson, Fernando, Roxas, Gordon and Osmena as your potential candidates, you can't go wrong there!

If Arroyo resigns and calls for a snap election (she should be disqualified from running since she stole the last one), this election will become a wide open race, with any of those 5 having an equal shot at winning since:

1) there would be no more "incumbent" presidents like Arroyo na pwedeng gamitin ang pera ng gobierno para manalo.

2) wala na ring FPJ at Erap (he's still under house arrest).

This is a chance for GMA to right a wrong peacefully, and I hope she resigns na if she loves her country.

But kung matigas pa rin ang ulo niya, at gustong kumapit sa pwesto, ito ang mangyayari:

1) Military Junta with a Pervez Musharraf-like figure (Fidel Ramos?) taking over our country.

2) Another Edsa replacing GMA with the last legitimate presdient we had, Joseph Estrada.

So to GMA and her supporters, you either do it the easy and peaceful way, or the HARD WAY!

It's your choice.

De Quiros makes perfect sense:

At least when Estrada cried during the height of adversity, "I will not step down, I am the duly elected president of this country," his foes could only shake their heads sadly and wonder at the tragedy of it. When President Arroyo cries the same thing today, everyone can only laugh his head off and marvel at the travesty of it. Estrada merely betrayed the public trust, Ms Arroyo never had the public trust to begin with.

How in God's name can you get worse than that?

...

The prospect -- or threat -- of De Castro taking over is not as insurmountable as it sounds. The solution is snap elections. The financial objection to it, which is that in these dire times the country cannot afford another expensive electoral exercise, is ridiculous. It is far more cost-effective than keeping a leader who cannot lead, having lost every right to. In these dire times, what this country cannot afford is an expensive, no, extravagant, non-president. This country cannot survive five more years of misrule. Or more than misrule, mistaken rule.

There's more than moral force to justify a "snap election," there's legal force, too. If it's true that President Arroyo cheated during the last election -- and I've always said that her ransacking of the public treasury to campaign patently constituted that, quite apart from the direct evidence offered by Ong's tape that she conspired with a Comelec official to doctor the results -- then the last presidential election may be deemed null and void. I do not know what the implications of that would be for the other officials, I leave that to the legal eagles. But there is more than enough reason to void the contest for president at least.

And hold a snap election. De Castro may not automatically fill in Ms Arroyo's shoes because of one thing: This isn't just a case of the president being mentally (or morally) incapacitated and deemed unfit (though heaven knows it's that, too) which, as decreed by the Constitution, should have the vice president taking over. This is a case of someone being found out to have usurped the presidency. The position is vacant, and only the will of the people, as signified by the vote, can fill it.

To Download or Read the Transcripts of the GloriaGate Audio tapes...

Go to PCIJ blog.

Reminder lang ito sa mga gustong marinig yung tape ni GMA at Garci.

GMA, Garcillano caught on tape - US voice experts

From the Daily Tribune:

It’s Gloria, Garci caught on tape—US voice experts

By Gerry Baldo and Jun P. Yap
Tuesday, 06 14, 2005

Serving as corroborating evidence to an earlier finding of an Australian voice analyzing expert that the voices on the incriminating “Gloriagate” tapes are those of President Arroyo and her election official, Comission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, is yet another finding from an independent American-based company that is into voice analysis, recognition and identification, which confirmed that the voices heard on the unaltered and unedited tapes were conclusively identified as the President's and Garcillano's.

This was disclosed yesterday by former Sen. Francisco Tatad.

“In response to our request for a voice analysis of the controversial Arroyo-Garcillano tape, we have received two reports from Voice Identification Inc. (VII) in New Jersey, positively identifying Arroyo's and Garcillano's voices on the tape,” Tatad said.

The report on Mrs. Arroyo is dated June 3, 2005, while that on Garcillano's is dated June 9.

Through critical listening and spectrographic prints, the certified analysts at VII were able to determine that the conversations appeared “contiguous and unaltered,” and “legitimate reproductions of original telephone calls,” Tatad pointed out.

The report was signed by VII President Ernst F. W. “Rix” Alexanderson, and notarized by Mary Carol Niezgoda, a notary public in the State of New Jersey.

Alexanderson is a certified voiceprint examiner, with extensive training and experience in voice identification, including analysis and transcription services involving tape recordings of voices, training of law enforcement personnel in the techniques of voice identification. He has personally analyzed some 250 cases involving voiceprint comparison, and trained approximately 100 law enforcement personnel in voice identification techniques.

The VII explained its procedure as follows:

“A voiceprint analysis is comprised of an aural (listening) portion and a spectrographic portion. The spectrographic portion involves the visual comparison of the patterns produced by the speech sounds from the known and the questioned speaker. These patterns are produced on paper by an instrument called a sound spectrograph and represent a three dimensional display of the speech sounds present in the examine voice.

“The pattern matching is done by two certified voice analysts working independently. Words chosen for comparison must be common to both the questioned and known recording, spoken in a similar manner, contain a sufficient frequency response, and have a sufficient enough signal to noise ratio that the patterns are not obscured.

“An aural comparison involves critical listening by the examiners who seek to determine whether the sounds of the voices are similar or different. Characteristics such as pitch, pronunciation, accent, rate of speech, breathing patterns and speech impediments are used by the examiner in arriving at a decision on the aural comparison. The aural examination should support the spectrographic analysis.”

It was pointed out by the experts at Vll Voice Identification, Inc. that “Segment #14 from Track 22 of the CD-R produced the most comparable speech sample of the questioned female. An aural comparison to the cassette recording of Macapagal-Arroyo indicated a strong similarity to the sounds of the voices, suggesting it was the same speaker,” the report on Arroyo said.

The report on Garcillano found “reasonable matches between the known and the questioned 'Gary',” despite the fact that there were few samples of good quality for a voiceprint comparison.

“Our aural comparison indicated a similarity in the voices. Of particular interest to us was the “s” sounds, in which both known and unknown “Gary” spoke with a lisp (a speech impediment),” the report said.

During a press forum held at the Manila Hotel yesterday, Tatad also disclosed that Mrs. Arroyo and Garcillano are talking about ways of cheating in the last 2004 presidential elections, particularly in Mindanao.

“In response to our request for a voice analysis of the controversial Arroyo-Garcillano tape, we have received two reports from the New Jersey-based Voice Identification, Incorporated (VII), positively identifying Arroyo's and Garcillano's voices on tape,” Tatad said.

When asked when he had obtained a copy of the controversial tapes, Tatad said his group was able to secure one even before the issue was divulged to the media by presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye. He, however, refused to reveal the origin of the tapes.

In a related development, Tatad also disclosed that he started to notice that his communication lines appears to have been tapped, saying that other members of the opposition are now apparently being monitored closely by government authorities.

Authorities were quick to criticize Tatad for bringing that matter to the US experts, insisting he is not authorized to do so.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Interpol chief Ricardo Diaz also yesterday said Tatad is not a member of the law enforcement agency, adding that the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the NBI are the only agencies allowed to come up with an authorized investigation on the matter, including the voice analysis.

Diaz said that the NBI and the PNP have their own technical people to conduct an investigation, however, he admitted that both the PNP and the NBI are not capable of conducting such kind of exhaustive voice analysis.

“For us to do this, we (NBI and PNP) have to find a neutral expert to conduct the necessary voice analysis. And we must also find the original tapes for that matter,” he said.

The US Embassy has said if asked, it would only too willing to have the tapes authenticated and voices identified and confirmed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. But the Arroyo government has resisted having these tapes checked abroad, and by an independent body.

Meanwhile, Sen. Alfredo Lim and Catholic priest Fr. Joe Dizon said it is ironic that the focus of the Arroyo government is on the lesser wire-tapping issue vis-a-vis the greater issue of election fraud.

“The higher crime is stealing the elections, not wire-tapping,” Dizon said.

Dizon also issued a challenge to Mrs. Arroyo to face the allegations against her squarely.

“The moral obligation of the President now is to tell the nation whether it was she on the tape or not,” Dizon said during the same media forum.

Lim, for his part, said that the wire-tapping and sedition charges against Ong will not hold water even as he added that the people are interested in the contents of the tape than on the issue of wire-tapping.

Lim pointed out that the government should concentrate on the persons who issued the order to wire-tap Garcillano or Mrs. Arroyo.

“The mastermind behind the production of the tape should be charged…first is Secretary Bunye,” Lim said even as he vouched for Ong's integrity.

“Ong has never been involved in any wrongdoing…he is a silent worker…(he has) no derogatory record,” Lim recalled when he was still the director of the NBI.

More excellent coverage of GLORIAGATE scandal

from opposition papers Malaya and Tribune, although the Tribune's links are good only for one day (meaning tomorrow, those links to the articles won't work anymore).

But it makes me wonder why these two newspapers are not being picked up by Google News. Maybe Google Philippines is just as biased as Google News in the US?

"No Permit, No Rally"

Try Googling "No Permit, No Rally". Or GoogleNews it.

The "No permit, No rally" rule is a recent invention of the paranoid Arroyo administration (after the Edsa Tres disaster) to prevent anti-Arroyo protesters and opposition groups from organizing massive rallies against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (no matter how peaceful it is) in the future.

Here's an example of how Arroyo's police goons tried to disperse a recent anti-Arroyo rally thru intimidation and physical bullying.

Last Friday night, I raged at a Philippine National Police (PNP) officer named Bondoc and it was captured on TV. It happened because this officer, with a few underlings, took charge of dispersing a crowd of peacefully assembled urban poor group at the San Carlos Seminary gate who had placards calling for “truth” (katotohanan) and chanting slogans supporting former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong's fight. They harassed and threatened the hapless protesters with threats of arrest and physical bullying. When Sen. Serge Osmeña alighted from his car, I requested him to give this officer a brief on the right to assembly.

Serge obliged, I spotted Bondoc who tried to scurry away; but I caught up and made him face Osmeña. Why was this cop running away? Because he knows that which he does in driving away protesters is wrong, yet he does it anyway and this enrages me. You want to reason with such characters who will do what is wrong even if they know it? Serge had his moment with Bondoc, then junta-leader-wanna-be Fortunato Abat arrived and had his minute of klieg lights, but on the wrong side, justifying the police suppression instead of supporting the right to protest.

Under the Arroyo regime, the right to assemble and expression has been systematically cut down and up. The police and military not only block exit and entry points at and from communities where marches can start, they climb up passenger buses to seek out potential groups and send them back or accost pedestrians walking in threes or fours and harassing them. This is a deliberate policy and tactic to break up any assembly before bigger groups are formed of perfectly peaceful and legitimate assembly.

What Ignacio Bunye was saying back then...

Basahin nyo ito ulit para malaman nyo kung anong katarantaduhan ang pinagsasabi spokesperson Ignacio Bunye just one week ago.

Walang hiya, dinamay pa niya ang U.S. sa "destabilization plot" laban kay Pandak.

GMA poll fraud proof bared on taped calls
Palace cries ‘destabilization,’ links US government

Panicking at the alleged discovery of a taped conversation between President Arroyo and a still to be identified Commision on Elections (Comelec) commissioner to ensure her victory at the May polls through massive fraud and blatantly cheating opposition standard- bearer Fernando Poe Jr. out of his rightful seat in Malacañang, the Palace yesterday preempted the baring of the taped conversation by announcing publicly the existence of the tape, and quickly moved to involve the US government by claiming that the opposition is bandying the story of the US government having been the source of the tape.

But the US Embassy spokesman yesterday denied any involvement in, or the tapping of a conversation last year between the President and a Comelec commissioner while reportedly discussing a strategy to be employed in cheating FPJ at the polls.

Embassy spokesman Karen Kelley said the embassy does not engage in such activities as Palace reports earlier suggested.

“I don't know (how) we have been wrapped up on this. We have not recorded any conversation. We are not involved,” Kelley told the Tribune in an interview.

Kelley noted that the US embassy does not interfere in the internal and political affairs of the Philippines, suggesting that this latest scandal involving Mrs. Arroyo was an internal affair that is best decided on by the Filipino people.

While she admitted that the embassy is aware of the report, she said this was dismissed as plain “rumors.”

“I heard about it last night. Some people are claiming they got it from a US Embassay source (Lemme guess, Ignacio Bunye? LOL - John Marzan), but we are not involved in this act at all. We don't have a role in this,” Kelley said.

A reliable Palace source told the Tribune yesterday that Malacañang, in an emergency crisis committee Saturday night, decided to implicate the US government in Manila, to force it to declare support for her, in the alleged destabilization plot.

But former Sen. Franciso Tatad said the Palace move was an obvious effort to steal the thunder from the opposition, disclosing that Malacañang has started a “text campaign” claiming that the opposition would soon present a tape recording of questionable origin containing “manufactured conversations” between Mrs. Arroyo and some Comelec officials during the last elections. Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye was reported to have attributed the source of the evidence to the US Embassy.

Tatad said this was “completely irresponsible.” He assured Malacañang that “if the opposition decides to present any tape recording of Mrs. Arroyo's crimes, they would have witnesses to authenticate the material, or be ready to submit the same for independent verification.”

Preempting the opposition's move, Bunye said such conversation never took place and that there was no instruction from Mrs. Arroyo to the Comelec to cheat in the elections.

Bunye also said this is another demolition job against the President, whose family is being implicated in the illegal numbers game scandal.

Mrs. Arroyo, whose presidency remains in question until now, won over Poe last year by a slim margin.

The opposition alleged that Poe was a victim of vote-padding and shaving (dagdag-bawas) as reflected in the election returns that were altered, distorted and manipulated to favor the President.

Earlier, In two radio interviews over RMN News Manila and dzBB, the presidential spokesman bared the alleged plot of the opposition to expose a “tapped' phone conversation of Mrs. Arroyo and the Comelec official.

Bunye said the exposé would come in VCD form and would be bared to the public either today or the next day.

“Intelligence reports reaching the Palace point to another desperate plot of some segments of the opposition to smear and destabilize the administration via a so-called taped conversation between the President and a certain Comelec Commissioner plotting election fraud,” he said.

Palace sources who requested not to be identified said the President had an emergency meeting with her key officials in the Cabinet a the poll fraud tape issue Saturday evening but refused to divulge the identities of the personalities who attended the “emergency” meeting.

“The President was infuriated about the coming exposé but the US Embassy (in Manila) had already denied any involvement,” the source said.

Bunye confirmed the President and her aides have received intelligence reports of the opposition's alleged plot, which was why they immediately contacted unnamed officials in the US Embassy in Manila, which has denied any involvement.

“We personally talked to certain officials in the US Embassy yesterday (Saturday) and they told me there is no such thing. It is not in their program to destabilize a certain friendly country...Obviously, this new story about election fraud is a pure concoction,” he said.

Bunye said the same reports proffer a wild story that the tape came from US government sources, thereby suggesting some kind of official US involvement in a plot to oust Mrs. Arroyo from power.

“This new story about election fraud is a canard and even the American Embassy in Manila has dismissed the allegations of US Government involvement as false,” he said.

Bunye, however, refused to name certain members of the opposition who would orchestrate the “latest” destabilization move but stressed that the group is already prepared and would come out soon in a press conference to discredit the President before the Filipino people.

“This would come out within the next few days. We would see then who from the opposition would spearhead this, once the press conference pushes through,” he said.

Bunye admitted Malacañang decided to “preempt” the exposé of the opposition, believing the taped conversation would be bared to the public.

“We cannot be sure if our preemptive move would stop them. What we know is that this certain group would not stop and do everything to destabilize our administration,” he said.

It was unclear why an exposé of an alleged taped conversation between then candidate Arroyo and a Comelec official is considered by the Palace as a destabilization plot, especially if this is accurate and true.

Committing election fraud is a criminal offense, and even if the opposition does expose this tape to the public, its baring is not a criminal offense.

But Bunye claimed the opposition is using the US as its “source' which already shows that the exposé “lacks credibility.”

“Let us wait and see. What's funny here is that they (opposition) don't have credible local sources that's why they're getting the US government into their mess,” Bunye said.

But it was also clear that the reports of the US' alleged involvement came, not from the opposition but from Malacañang.

Bunye said the US allegedly exposed this because it was infuriated at Mrs. Arroyo's personal dealings with the Chinese government.

“They (opposition) would show that the reason the US government exposed this was that they (US) don't like the way Mrs. Arroyo handles the China policy. That's their scenario so if we do not seriously scrutinize the facts, the public can be misled and will easily believe them (opposition),” he said.

“We should not believe them (opposition) especially now that they are dragging the US government here in their mess,” he added.

Bunye blamed the opposition, saying, “well, here in our local politics they cannot really accept the fact that they (opposition) lost in the last elections. In every election here in our country it's normal for both the winning candidate and as well as the losing candidate to claim that they both won the election and whoever loses claims he was cheated. So that's their style, and they cannot accept the fact. We're just hoping that this (exposé) would not prosper,” he said.

“But we are no longer surprised at the depths of despair that some opposition members can reach, considering the failed jueteng caper against the First Family,” he said.

Bunye said before the start of the Senate investigations, the market reacted negatively, anticipating a bombshell. But Bunye claimed that after whistleblower Wildredo “Boy Bicol” Mayor went about his “shotgun testimony, implicating several legislators without proof, the market quickly recovered,” adding that “the Boy Mayor testimony turned out to be ampaw (hollow) and the market saw through the charade. Unfortunately, these allegations are obviously the concoctions of persons motivated only by self-interest. It is unfortunate that our chismis (rumor)-driven culture laps it up as gospel truth,” he said.

Bunye said the coming exposé of the opposition would only take away precious time and attention better spent on solving the many problems that confront us.

“Some people, rather than being part of the solution, are a big part of the problem. Due to purely selfish reasons, these incorrigible destabilizers want the President to fail,” he said.

“They must realize however, that the President's failure would not only be her own, or her family's or her party's. It would be the failure of our entire nation to pick itself up by its bootstraps and catch up with its neighbors,” he said, stressing that “this destabilization moves would not help our government, instead it is creating a downfall to our economy. In the end, its all of us who would suffer,” he added.

More evidence of fraud

Read this from Demaree Raval, and check the PDF file accompanying it.

For those who don't have the Acrobat Reader, here's the pic:

*ER is the real thing, SoV is the submitted data.
Now, you know why Congress didn't what the ER's to be opened. LMAO!!!

NTC GAGS BROADCAST MEDIA, NO AIRING OF GLORIAGATE TAPE

From the Daily Tribune:

Aussie tape test find: Gloria, Garci voices confirmed
NTC GAGS BROADCAST MEDIA, NO AIRING OF GLORIAGATE TAPE

By Angie M. Rosales and Carlo Leo Manuel
Monday, 06 13, 2005

There is no more denying that the various telephone calls between two public officials, said to number 11 calls that focused on how to cheat opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr., through massive, deliberate nad systematic electoral fraud to ensure a female candidate's victory with a one million vote lead, are authentic.

Even the cellphone numbers were identified.

An independent Australian company analyzed not only the authenticity of the tape that was annotated by lawyer Alan Paguia, submitted by opposition Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson to the foreign voice analysis firm, but also the voices in the audio compact disc (CD).

The Australian Firm, Uniquest Pty. Ltd, that tapped Brian Lovell, an associate professor and Research director of the Intelligent Real Time Imaging and Sensing Group at the University of Queensland, has identified the two officials in the tapped telephone calls as President Arroyo and Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

To this day, Malacañanag has shown reluctance in having these tapes submitted to independent and foreign voice analysis firms giving them only to the local agency under the control of the Executive.

Malacañang, through its National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), has already warned all broadcast media not to air the tapes as they stand to lose their permits to broadcast.

The NTC told all broadcast companies not to play the taped conversations between the President and Garcillano wherein she urged the election official to ensure the commission of poll fraud to favor her candidacy.

In a memorandum, it cautioned “all radio stations and TV networks owners/operators that the conditions of the authorization and permits issued to them by government like the provisional authority and/or certificate of authority explicitly provide that said companies shall not use (their) stations for the broadcasting or telecasting of false (information) or willful false representation.”

“Relative thereto, it has come to the attention of the (NTC) that certain personalities are in possession of alleged conversation which they think involves the President of the Philippines and the commissioner of the Comelec regarding their supposed violation of election laws,” the NTC said.

The government telecommunications watchdog noted that since the veracity of the tape has yet to be verified, radio and TV stations should not air the same, particularly in their news programs.

“Considering that this taped conversation has not been duly authenticated nor could it be said at this time that the tapes contain an accurate or truthful representation of what was recoded therein, it is the petition of the commission that the continuous airing or broadcast of the said taped conversation by radio or TV stations is a continuing violation of the anti-wire-tapping law and the conditions of the provisional authority and all certificates of authority issued these radio and TV stations,” the NTC said.

The commission added if the tapes would be proved to be inaccurate, the companies that aired them would have their licenses suspended or even revoked.

“If it has been subsequently established that the said tapes are false, the concerned radio and TV companies are hereby warned that their broadcasting or airing of such false information or willful misrepresentation shall be just cause for the suspension, revocation and/or cancellation of the licenses and authorization issued to the concerned companies,” the NTC said.

“This is pure censorship,” a broadcaster told the Tribune, but said “there is really nothing that the broadcast industry can do, since the government can cut them out of business.”

The broadcast media in the Philippines have never fought for their freedom of the press and expression and usually toe the Malacanang line, fearing a cutoff by the NTC.

The independent-foreign voice recording analyst expert reportedly faxed his initial findings of the four tapes that were said to contain the taped conversations between Mrs. Arroyo and her political fraud operator, Garcillano.

The initial findings also showed, a source also yesterday told the Tribune that even the dialled numbers were identified by the Australian firm, which will make it even harder for the Palace to deny that Mrs. Arroyo and Garcillano were the parties in those tapes.

The two Malacanang-released tapes, one of which presidential spokeman and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye declared was a “doctored” CD and another which he claimed was the “original”

that contained a conversation between the President and a claimed “Gary” who later identified himself as a political election campaign aide named Edgardo Ruado, were both pronounced as being tampered, while in the copy with the Paguia annotation, the conversations between the two parties were judged as unaltered or unedited.

The findings by the Australian voice analysis firm placed Malacañang claims in further doubt, as the latest Palace spiel on the “original tape” and “doctored' tape it presented to the media is that it is not Mrs. Arroyo's voice on either tapes.

The findings of an Australian expert also placed under serious suspicion the credibility of conclusions yet to be made by local authorities, namely the National Bureau of Investigation, tapped by the Palace to examine the the tapes as his findings came in and backed up by formal and in-depth examination, using high-technology equipment.

Dr. Brian Lovell, in yielding the results, virtually jumped the gun on Malacañang in case the administration thinks of the idea of concealing from the public the truth behind the controversy.

“In my professional opinion, there is no evidence that would suggest that the conversations have been altered in any way from their original recorded form,” Lovell said in making his conclusion.

He issued the report on the examination he made on the alleged conversations of Mrs. Arroyo “to determine if there was any evidence to suggest that they had been interfered with.”

Through the efforts made by Lacson, the foreign voice analyst expert's services were tapped to scrutinize the tape, the same copy that lawyer Alan Paguia claims to be in his possession in view of the pronouncements made by the Palace that this was an “edited” copy.

The forensic audio examination report is said to be have been done with complete professionalism and the firm's Lovell comes highly qualified.

Lovell's research interests span signal and image processing, signal and image analysis, computer vision, face and gesture recognition, machine learninsg, pattern recognition and classification.

He has been a researcher with the Cooperative Research Centre for Sensor Signal and Information Processing and currently a contributing researcher to NICTA (National Information and Communications Technology Australia).

Lovell serves as president of the Australian Pattern Recognition Society (APRS) with about 150 members nationally, is the voting member for Australia on the Governing Board of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), as well a being a member of the IAPR Nominating Committee.

An associate, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Australia and a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

Lovell has been an expect witness on forensic audio examination on several cases including a high-profile case during the Drummond Inquiries which involved appearances in the district court.

He performed two audio examinations in 2004 and one of these led to an action through the Criminal Misconduct Commission.

His forensic image work includes facial recognition for the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions and photo verification for a civil suit.

Meanwhile, the telephone lines of radio station dzEC was reportedly cut yesterday after an announcement made by the station that it would be interviewing Lacson on the findings of the controversial taped conversations between the President and the Comelec commissioner.

DzEC's phone lines apparently went down shortly after their anchors said on air they would try to interview Lacson and get his side on the matter.

The technician on duty yesterday said it was a “technical problem.”

At about 1:30 yesterday afternoon, dzEC radio announced it would be interviewing Lacson but at about 1:45 p.m., the station's anchors went off the air, and the station repeatedly played plugs of its public affairs programs.

Shortly before 2 p.m., the anchors went back on air, saying the interview with Lacson will no longer push through due to “technical problems” and the phone lines were down.

But dzEC sources said there was no order from Malacañang not to air the interview.

With Jun P. Yap

GLORIAGATE roundup

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin-Lanche!!! Thanks Michelle.

Ellen Tordesillas, who once wrote a book re Estrada's corruption and excesses, observes:

GLORIA Arroyo may not fall this week or even next week but I seriously doubt if she can recover from the damage wrought by her taped conversations with Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano that showed the two of them conspiring to make sure that the 2004 presidential election will result in her lead of more than one million votes which was what eventually happened.

One thing is certain: The conversations did take place. That was confirmed by Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye when he came out with the Malacañang-doctored tapes in a desperate attempt to confuse the issue. Arroyo herself affirmed Bunye’s statement when she referred reporters to Bunye’s statement when asked about it immediately after Bunye’s press conference.

Bunye’s backtracking after two days of silence merely confirmed the panic that is gripping Malacañang these days.

HALA LAGOT!

There's so much more info in that article. I suggest you read it all.

Respected UP Professor and PDI Columnists Randy David has already heard the tapes, and writes:

The identity of the speakers in these conversations can, of course, be established through "voice print" analysis. My own interest is different. Out of academic curiosity, I listened repeatedly to broadcasts of these conversations, and studied the published transcripts. I wanted to know if the conversations were not contrived, or whether they exhibited rational properties. There is a sub-specialty in sociology called "ethnomethodology" that inquires into the rational characteristics of conversations. The method looks at the orderly nature of human interaction-a conversation for example-as an ongoing achievement by the participants. A lot of meanings are exchanged in the course of the conversation, beyond what may be gleaned from a merely literal interpretation of words.

Normal conversations are littered with what analysts call "glosses"-expressions that are intelligible only in the context of background understandings. A gloss is a short-cut, a device that makes elaborations unnecessary, but yields its meanings only in the light of shared background information. It is easy to fabricate one conversation, but it is not easy to invent a whole series while maintaining stable identities and a consistent tone.

A whole world has been assumed and brought out in these fascinating conversations-the world of political fraud and electoral fixing. The key figure is a male voice variously referred to as "Commissioner" or "Garci." It was obviously his phone that was bugged. By the types of situations brought to him for fixing, by the variety of people desperately seeking his help, and by the frightening ease with which he dispenses solutions-one would know that this man is an old hand in the underworld of electoral fraud.

He knows exactly where to pull additional votes and for how much, and how to deal with recalcitrant election registrars who don't cooperate. Politicians come to him for help like anxious little children. They rely on him to do all the dirty tricks they need to do to win, things they themselves would sanctimoniously decry in public.

This is the political operator that "Ma'am" repeatedly calls as she nervously awaits the results from far-flung towns in Mindanao. Listen to this cryptic exchange: "Hello Ma'am?/ Hello, meron tayong statement of votes, ERs para sa Sulu?/ Saan po Ma'am?/ Sulu, Sulu./ Oo Ma'am meron po./ Nagco-correspond?/ Oo Ma'am./ Kumpleto?/ Oo Ma'am. Lahat ho meron, hindi po namin ika-count kung.... / Ok, ok."

On the surface it does look like an innocent exchange. The key word here is "nagco-correspond"-a gloss that refers to the practice of fixing canvass results at, say, the provincial level so that they are not at variance with precinct election returns or statement of votes for municipalities. The other gloss is the question "Kumpleto?" This is not a harmless inquiry. Given the kind of response it elicits, it is an urgent demand to make sure the doctoring is done with care.

One knows this from examining other conversations: "Hello/ Hello, Ma'am, good morning. Ok Ma'am, mas mataas ho siya pero mag-compensate po sa Lanao yan./ So will I still lead by more than 1 M overall?/ More or less, but it is still an advantage, Ma'am. Parang ganun din ang lalabas./ Oo, pero it will not be less than 1M?/ Pipilitin ho natin yan. Pero, as of the other day, 982./ Kaya nga eh./ And then, if we can get more in Lanao./ Hindi pa ba tapos?/ Hindi pa ho. Meron pa hong darating na 7 municipalities./ Ah, ok, ok./ Sige po./ Ok, ok, ok..."

This man is not in the business of counting votes; he produces them.

And where in the world is Commissioner Garcillano, btw?

And more potential bad news for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, an Australian firm that specializes in authenticating audio tapes -- and is used by HK and Aussie police -- has verified that the tapes were "not altered".

Lacson tapped the Uniquest Pty Limited, the technology and consulting company of the University of Queensland in Australia, to conduct voice verification.

Uniquest Pty has confirmed that the voices in the taped conversations were "not altered" by modern technology.

In a faxed preliminary report to Lacson, Dr. Brian Lovell of Uniquest Pty said: "In my professional opinion there is no evidence that would suggest that the conversations have been altered in any way from their original recorded form."

Lovell said the findings were based on their examination of the conversations in the tapes submitted by Lacson. The examination was done to "determine if there was any evidence to suggest that they had been ‘interfered with.’"

The Tribune also has a report on this:

Aussie tape test find: Gloria, Garci voices confirmed
NTC GAGS BROADCAST MEDIA, NO AIRING OF GLORIAGATE TAPE

By Angie M. Rosales and Carlo Leo Manuel
Monday, 06 13, 2005

There is no more denying that the various telephone calls between two public officials, said to number 11 calls that focused on how to cheat opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr., through massive, deliberate nad systematic electoral fraud to ensure a female candidate's victory with a one million vote lead, are authentic.

Even the cellphone numbers were identified.

An independent Australian company analyzed not only the authenticity of the tape that was annotated by lawyer Alan Paguia, submitted by opposition Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson to the foreign voice analysis firm, but also the voices in the audio compact disc (CD).

The Australian Firm, Uniquest Pty. Ltd, that tapped Brian Lovell, an associate professor and Research director of the Intelligent Real Time Imaging and Sensing Group at the University of Queensland, has identified the two officials in the tapped telephone calls as President Arroyo and Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

To this day, Malacañanag has shown reluctance in having these tapes submitted to independent and foreign voice analysis firms giving them only to the local agency under the control of the Executive.

Yeah, why the reluctance, Malacanang?

US charges d’affaires Joseph Mussommeli also talked to reporters re the tapes:

US charges d’affaires Joseph Mussommeli said in an ambush interview at the vin d’honneur in Malacañang Saturday that the US is willing to help in examining the tape if the Philippine government asks for assistance. Otherwise, he said, "it is not our business."

Interesting. So why haven't the Arroyo admin asked for third-party assistance from the U.S. FBI?

The Malaya Editorial has more questions for the Arroyo admin and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, and has this to say:

Yesterday, Arroyo, in her Independence Day address, excoriated "destructive politics." The taped conversations are the most eloquent evidence on who trampled on the people’s right to elect their leaders.

Arroyo said the primary challenge now is how to move the economy forward. It isn’t. The challenge facing the nation is the restoration of the people’s trust on the leadership.

And trust can only be built on truth.

A full week into the scandal and Gloria has yet to say, "No, that’s not me talking to any Tom, Dick or Harry."

More comments from Conrad de Quiros, Ducky Paredes.

Of course it's Lacson, DUH!!!

If you have nothing else to do and want a sample of how some pro-arroyo media people think, check this out.

Answering the Lawyer

Sabi niya:

A lot of people will probably be thinking about going to that vigil. If you’re one of them, I can only wish that you ask yourself first: (1) Have I heard the entire tapes (or have a read the transcripts of the entire tapes from a realiable source)?

I have already listened to the most of the damaging parts of the tape, and it is REALLLY bad for GMA.

And even though I haven't heard the entire tape (3 hours long), the 36 minutes that I have heard between her and Garcy is enough to force Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to resign if the tapes are authentic.

(2) Based on what I have heard (or read), am I convinced that Gloria Arroyo is guilty of a crime?

Yes. But you really don't even need the tapes to tell you that eh. There are enough election fraud evidence out there to show that GMA stole the last election.

The tape, if proven to be real, is just another nail in GMA's coffin... the icing on the cake... the straw that broke the camel's back...

(3) Is there no alternative except to overthrow her government?

Let her resign. Then ask for a recall election. Either Drilon or Noli de castro becomes "acting president" habang ino-organize pa ang election to replace arroyo.

See, we’ve been through this hellhole before… overthrowing governments… people power… how much better off are we now than before 1986? Before 2001?

Don't lump Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 together, SL. I supported Edsa one because we needed to restore democracy back in the Philippines and remove the dictator Marcos.

Edsa Dos OTOH is the ugly, illegitimate, and unconstitutional stepchild of Edsa One. I didn't participate in it. Heck, majority of the Filipinos didn't participate in it. Rally lang yan ng mga anti-erap elites, ng simbahang katoliko, at military (and a few leftist groups).

As far as I'm concerned, Edsa Dos is a Big Lie.

ANYWAYS, kung totoo nga yung laman ng tape, handa na ba kayong hingiin ang resignation ni Arroyo?

Kawawa namang ang Philippine MSM

Tinalo sila ng isang blog pagdating coverage ng Gloria Tape Scandal. Now we know why the good people at PCIJ are labeled "enemies of the state" by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's ISAFP.

No credible alternatives???

I keep hearing many pro-Arroyo people say that they don't mind GMA cheating her opponents to win, because they don't want FPJ to become president.

Tapos, sasabihin nila na we should keep Gloria Macapagal Arroyo na lang since they claim that there are "no credible replacements" for Pikachu.

I say bullshit to those.

There is one guy that would make a great president if Arroyo steps down, and that person is Panfilo Lacson.

Sure sinabi ni Lacson recently na wag muna raw mag-resign si GMA.

Sabi ni Lacson, let's give GMA one last chance to "redeem herself".

Gusto ko makita ang pangulo redeeming herself. Maraming paraan, marami siyang puwedeng gawin para i-redeem ang kanyang sarili na drastic at dramatic na talagang makikita ng tao na totoo," Lacson said.

He said the President should go beyond ordering the Department of Justice to investigate her kin whom jueteng whistleblowers have alleged are receiving millions of pesos in jueteng payoffs.

"Hindi ganoon ang gustong makita o marinig ng tao. Gusto nilang may makitang dramatic and I believe na kung talagang gagawin, she can still redeem herself," he said.

...
"I'd rather wait for what she will do in the coming days to really redeem herself, hindi yung agad-agad ay tatawagin natin na magresign. Mukhang may bahid na politika ang ginagawang imbestigasyon pag ganito kaaga at hindi natin bigyan ang pangulo na i-redeem ang kanyang sarili," Lacson said.

Meaning, wag kaagad magtawag ng resignation, let her defend herself muna. If she can't "redeem herself", well delikado na...

Which is a smart move on lacson's part IMO, because it makes him look like na hindi siya atat-na-atat na paalisin si GMA.

And at the same time, he distances himself from the the group that is leading the charge in calling for GMA's resignation, para hindi siya maakusahan na may personal interest sa pagpapatalsik kay GMA.

Thirdly, the business groups and pro-GMA loyalists are more likely to embrace him as GMA's replacement if he shows non-partisanship and statesmanship in dealing with GMA.

Cuz let's face it, GMA is a goner. A dead man walking. It's just a matter of time.

And when a recall election is held, si lacson ang magiging paborito para manalo diyan. You can count on it.

Order a Recall Election

Order a recall election if the GMA tapes are proven to be authentic.

I agree with Senator Pimentel. That's the number one option and least magulo na solusyon.

First, GMA (or Noli) resigns. Then the temporary "acting president" (either Drilon or Noli) calls for a recall election.

All the COMELEC commissioners should be replaced with honest and credible people too.

Let's follow Ukraine's Model.

And lets hope the disgraced Gloria Macapagal Arroyo resigns as soon as possible.

For our sake.

Manuel L Quezon III tells the pro-Arroyo crowd

not to panic yet....

PCIJ has the best coverage on GLORIAGATE

The best coverage on GLORIAGATE can be found at the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

http://www.pcij.org/blog

It has made the tapes into downloadable mp3 files + transcripts (if you can understand tagalog.) They are releasing the tapes in defiance of Malacanang's threat to arrest anybody and any members of media outlets with possession of those tapes.

Here's more from the Daily Tribune:

Media, other tape ‘pirates’ face arrest, warns Gonzalez

By Benjamin B. Pulta
Thursday, 06 09, 2005

In what could be the most draconian measure yet adopted by the Arroyo administration against alleged anti-government cons-pirators, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday warned that media practitioners and other persons in possession of an audio recording allegedly involving President Arroyo and an election officer discussing fraud strategies for the May 2004 elections may be arrested. (See related story)

Gonzalez said the arrest, which may be done without a warrant, would be for violating a 40-year-old law passed during the martial-law government of then strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

During a press briefing, he cited a law first passed in 1965, the Anti-Wiretapping Act, providing that persons in possession of a recording may be charged and held under custody.

Earlier, he also warned whistle-blowers on another scandal linking the First Family — jueteng payola — saying they will be arrested if they as much as show up before a Senate hearing to testify on alleged jueteng payoffs to Mrs. Arroyo's husband, son and brother-in-law. (See related story)

“If they (people who make a recording of the taped conversation between Mrs. Arroyo and the poll official) persist in doing it after they have been warned, then they are making a continuing offense, subject to arrest by anybody who has personal knowledge if the crime was committed, or in their presence is being committed.” Gonzalez said.

He further warned that published transcriptions may also be made a basis of an indictment. “After it was already known that this is an illegal tape, that is already a crime. Anybody who (is) responsible (is) already liable (under) the law,'' the Justice secretary said.

He added members of the media may be charged, too, regarding the matter.

“Yes, the media (have a) liability. Anybody can call our attention to that. I don't think an arrest at once is imperative. That can be done but that is a little harsh. I think we should subject everybody to preliminary investigation,” Gonzalez said.

The biggest newspaper in the Philippines has already backed down under gov't pressure. And AFAIK, PCIJ is the only website that is still making all the full contents of the tape available for download.

Their defiance of the Arroyo admin's crackdown reminds me of Ed Morrissey's defiance of the Canadian Gov't Publication ban on the Adscam controversy.

(Malaya and the Tribune have also defied the Gov't and released transcripts of the tape.)

Answering a pro-Arroyo supporter from another forum

why is there a cold reaction regarding these tapes?!

bakit parang walang pakialam ang taumbayan kahit medyo convincing ang nilalaman ng tapes na ito?!

I don't know re this "cold reaction" when most people haven't heard the tapes yet. Eh hindi pa nga pinaparinig ng major tv stations like GMA7 at ABS-CBN yung Gloria-Garci tapes eh, for chrissakes.

Unlike Erap's Juetengate or Panfilo Lacson's Narcopoliticsgate where major tv stations provided wall-to-wall live coverage of the events, yung Pidal expose ni Ping Lacson, yung expose ni Oscar Cruz on Juetengate 2 and the GLORIAGATE tapes are not getting the same treatment.

Kung si Joseph Estrada ang nasa tape na yan, discussing something re nakawan or dayaan, do you think GMA7 and ABS-CBN would bow to the wishes of Malacanang and not play those tapes on tv?

yeah, I know that the DOJ (using another law dating back to the Marcos era) has threatened anyone who has possession of the tapes with jail time. Bawal makinig at mag-possess ng mga tapes na yan. But why did ABS-CBN and GMA7 (including the INQ7) acted like sheep and meekly complied with the order?

Kung si erap ang nasa tape, do you think they'd follow the DOJ's order, lalo na kung potential evidence ito againsts erap's criminal activities?

do you think the NYT and the Washington Post in a similar situation would back down against Bush admin Attorney General Alberto Gonzales threatening them with jail time if they have the incriminating tapes vs. "Bushitler"?

Pagtatawanan lang yan ng NYT at WaPo.

My sense is that ABS and GMA7 doesn't really want to play the tapes, and the DOJ gave them a convenient excuse to self-censor themselves.

I mean, kung fake yung tapes, lalabas rin naman ang katotohanan diba? Katulad nang nangyari sa CBS Memogate on Bush's TANG record. CBS posted a photo of the document in their website and within hours nalaman kaagad na peke ito.

Why won't ABS-CBN, GMA7 and Inq7 do that, and let thousands of ordinary internet users and audio experts from around the world download the tapes and hear for themselves and determine if it's true or not?