‘Defensor ploy may backfire’

Environment Secretary Michael Defensor’s claim that the audio recordings of President Arroyo’s alleged phone conversations with an election official were fabricated could backfire on President Arroyo, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said yesterday.

In a press conference last Friday, Defensor presented a technical analysis made by an American sound analyst who had concluded the recordings were "digitally altered."

Defensor said Malacañang could ask the House of Representatives to throw out the impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo if the main evidence was fabricated.

Lacson said Defensor’s move was apparently meant to influence the impeachment proceedings.

He added the portions of the tapes sent by Defensor to Texas-based forensic sound expert Barry Dickey for analysis were not authentic and that he had the copy of the original tapes.

Lacson said Malacañang is trying to confuse members of the House who are still undecided on the impeachment complaint and the public.

Fewer than the necessary 79 House members have signed the impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo which would allow it to proceed to the Senate for trial, though opposition proponents are seeking to sway more lawmakers to back the petition.

The House committee on justice is deliberating on the complaint and deciding whether to junk it outright.

"The target audience for this (Defensor press conference) is the congressmen. But because of what they did, there might be more signatures (for the impeachment complaint). It will be added and will reach 79 if this is what they resort to," Lacson said.

The complaint was sent to the committee for deliberation because it lacked the minimum number of endorsers.

Lacson cautioned Defensor against covering up the truth with his revelation as it would only hurt Mrs. Arroyo instead of help her get out of the current political mess.

"When you are on the side of truth, it is easy to defend your position. It is very easy to argue. But if you’re trying to muddle the issue by introducing more lies to cover a lie, beware," he said.

"So I should advise Secretary Defensor, our argument is over. I believe that we have respect for each other. But if your position is indefensible, don’t insist on defending it. Because it would only hurt the subject who is being defended," Lacson said.

Apart from questioning the authenticity of Defensor’s tapes, Lacson also criticized Defensor for tapping the services of local audio experts with allegedly tainted reputations.

Lacson was referring to Jonathan Tiongco, who was presented during Defensor’s press conference as a local audio expert who had analyzed the tapes.

He recalled that Tiongco was described as "may sayad" (retarded) by Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile during the confirmation hearing of Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes where he had presented his objections to Reyes’ confirmation.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Defensor’s move was already irrelevant because Mrs. Arroyo had already publicly admitted that it was indeed she who was heard on the recordings speaking to an election official, believed to be former Commission on Elections official Virgilio Garcillano.

He pointed out that Mrs. Arroyo has never disputed the authenticity of the tapes when she apologized for what she called a "lapse in judgment" in speaking with an election official during the election period.

"It is obvious that the administration will go to all lengths to provide an excuse for the misdeeds of the President. But no matter what they do, I think they are in effect making the situation more difficult for the President because she has already admitted that the woman’s voice in the tape was hers," Pimentel said.

However, in fact, the President never actually mentioned the tapes or confirmed she was on the recordings in her televised apology.

He said that there were several portions of the tapes that contained conversations between Mrs. Arroyo and election officials and "graphically showed the President’s sordid and deliberate attempt to rig the election."

"Whether it’s Garcillano or somebody else the President was talking with on the tape, the fact that she talked with a Comelec official about manipulating the results of the election is already a crime," Pimentel said.

Not so fast

Meanwhile, local radio station dzXL of Radio Mindanao Network yesterday reported that Dickey had denied saying that the material sent to him for analysis had been digitally altered or spliced.

In its report shortly before noon, dzXL said Dickey categorically denied a statement attributed to him by Defensor that the recordings could be used as evidence in court.

Dickey requested that his interview not be aired live, according to the report. He also denied confirming that the recordings were altered or spliced.

"No sir, I am not the one who said it was spliced," Don Lino Selye, Radio Mindanao Network’s US bureau chief, quoted Dickey as saying.

Dickey reportedly said that nowhere in his report did he mention that the recordings were spliced; instead, what he reported was an "anomaly."

He did not elaborate, though, saying that the report he submitted to his client spoke for itself.

Dickey stressed that his role was limited only to a technical examination of the recordings and there was nothing political in his report.

Defensor, who was also interviewed by dzXL, stood by his statement that the recordings were inadmissible as court evidence. "You can ask Mr. Dickey again if the tape can be admitted in court as evidence in the US."

Dickey’s denial came on the heels of another radio interview, this time with local sound expert Jimmy Sarthou, who complained yesterday that Defensor had set him up.

Sarthou, one of the Filipino experts presented by Defensor during the Friday press conference, told dzMM radio that he was invited to a meeting with Defensor to comment on Dickey’s analysis.

But when he arrived at Sulu Hotel in Quezon City, he learned that he would presented to the media as a resource person.

Sarthou said he later went to the toilet and stayed there to escape the press conference. Defensor denied Sarthou’s claim.

Defensor said while it was possible that the voice heard on the tapes was Mrs. Arroyo’s, bits and pieces of different telephone conversations she had with other people could have been digitally stitched together to present the impression that the voices were conspiring to rig the May 2004 presidential vote.