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?

This National ID scheme is a terrible idea

I think this National ID scheme (via Executive Order) is a terrible idea, especially if we have a paranoid and vindictive administration that considers the media, the CBCP, and the political opposition as "enemies of the state."

In his statements to the press yesterday, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita let the cat out of the bag -- that indeed the military has been conducting surveillance not only on sectoral groups critical of the government but also on media groups such as the NUJP and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

Ermita's disclosure, as well as his justification for the military's act of spying on these groups and considering them as "enemies of the state" in its internal briefing documents, is significant because it brings this issue all the way to his boss, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In other words, "Knowing the Enemy," the PowerPoint presentation the military has been using as a briefing material, is not just the product of some over-active imagination in the military's intelligence service – it is, in fact, policy.

Damn! If the Arroyo admin has no qualms about screwing the privacy rights of journalists, the CBCP, and the political opposition, what more kung ordinary citizen ka lang who at isa ka ring kritiko ng adminstration ni Pandak?

Kung kaya ni Rey Berroya, Victor Corpus, Wycoco, Nani Perez, at Matillano na abusohin ang kanilang kapangyarihan at siraan ang isang senador na katulad ni Ping Lacson -- paano na kung isang ordinaryong citizen ka lang? Paano ka pa makakapalag kung ginawa rin nila sa iyo ito?

The problem with this National ID scheme is that it makes it easier and "legal" for bad guys like Berroya and Wycoco to surveille, track down, and harass their political enemies, members of the critical media and ordinary people who disagree with this corrupt admin -- with little or no restrictions.

I mean, kung si Ramos nga eh hindi niya maipasa itong "National ID" scheme na ito dahil malaking invasion of privacy at mabilis abusohin -- why should we pass it now kung alam nating corrupt at maduming maglaro itong si GMA?

Related:
Read the PDI spin
Dan Mariano's Subverting the Media

I know this is late na but...

I realized na in one fell swoop, ABS-CBN has damaged the future political career of Korina Sanchez and indirectly her boyfriend (current?) Sen. Mar Roxas, by removing Korina from TV Patrol and putting her in a frickin desk job.

Hooo Brother!!! Do you think ambitious Mar is still interested in Korina now that her influence and power is clipped by lack of exposure on TV?

LOL!!! ABS-CBN can make or break you talaga.

There's a reason why many Filipinos are reluctant to pay higher taxes

Hindi ba dahil sa heavy borrowing ni GMA to publicly finance her presidential campaign, ay lumaki ang foreign debt natin at lumala ang financial situation ng ating bansa?

And IIRC before the election, GMA was giving away free Philhealth cards to buy the votes of the poor (saan natin makukuha ang pambayad diyan?). We also have the "walking ads" program ni GMA, using gov't money to political advertisements.

Then, nandyan pa yung pera na ginamit ni pandak para panggastos sa mga million-peso talent fees ng mga artista endorsers niya katulad nina Nora "adik" Aunor, Kris Aquino, Boy Abunda and Ai Ai delas Alas.

She claims na she doesn't care re the opinion surveys because she's trying to institute painful reforms raw to improve the economy. But why initiate reforms only now and not earlier in 2001 like she originally promised?

If we have a serious economic crisis, bakit hindi niya inayos ito while it was still managable back in 2001? Wasn't economic reforms one of the reasons why she was installed as "president" after edsa dos?

Is it because during 2001-2004, ang priority ni GMA ay hindi ekonomiya at reporma kundi siraan ang opposition (like ping lacson) at asikasuhin ang presidential election run ni pandak for 2004?

Or maybe wala pang serious financial crisis after erap was removed from office and it is only after the reckless borrowing of foreign money by GMA to fund her re-election campaign in 2004 atsaka lang tayo nagkaroon ng financial crisis at dapat na raw taasan ang buwis natin?

So in short, ang gustong mangyari ni GMA ay: tayo ang magbabayad sa mga pinang-gastos niya sa nakaraan na halalan at yung mga million peso talent fees nina nora adik at kris aquino.

fuck pikachu.

Mindanao the new Afghanistan?

From the Malaya newspaper:

JOSEPH Mussomeli, US Embassy chargé d'affaires, has raised the possibility of Mindanao becoming the next Afghanistan because of the continued presence of terrorists in the South.

In a recent interview with SBS TV-Australia, Mussomeli said links between the Jemaah Islamiah and the Abu Sayyaf and factions of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front seemed to be growing stronger.

"Mindanao is almost, forgive the poor religious pun, the new 'Mecca' for terrorism," he said.
"Personally, I'm worried that we're not worried enough. I think the real danger here, and the danger that has been here since the mid-90s, is that we're not focused enough on the threat here," Mussomeli said.

The transcript of the interview, which was aired April 5, was monitored yesterday on the US Embassy website.

"It's not the sort of threat that should be worried about coming here on a day-to-day basis. The threat is more long-term: that Mindanao is such a lawless - certain portions of Mindanao - are so lawless, so porous (at) the borders that you run the risk of it becoming like an Afghanistan situation," he said.

Mussomeli said apart from Jemaah Islamiya (JI) operatives who have been tracked in Mindanao, Saudi nationals are also constant "visitors" to that part of the country.

"Whether they're legitimate or not is open to dispute," Mussomeli said.
the transcript of the interview is worth reading in its entirety.

The transcript of the interview is worth reading in it's entirety.