GMA allies say opposition tapped Cory’s phone

Two congressmen-allies of President Arroyo said it was the opposition that tapped the telephone of former President Corazon Aquino.

In a joint statement over the weekend, Representatives Douglas Cagas of Davao del Sur and Benasing Macarambon of Lanao del Sur said the Arroyo administration would get nothing out of bugging the former president.

On the contrary, they said it is the opposition that stands to benefit from the unlawful act.

"It was done to embarrass the administration and to gain media mileage for the opposition prior to the May 14 elections," the two said.

They stopped short of saying Mrs. Aquino was the one who did it to promote the candidacy of her son Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, a senatorial candidate of the Genuine Opposition (GO).

"We’re not saying that the Aquinos did it. It could have been done by another camp so it could be blamed on the government. The administration will be the scapegoat again as the usual suspect in this case," Cagas and Macarambon said.

Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, a GO candidate like Noynoy, has tagged the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) as the culprit behind the wiretapping.

Lacson told reporters last Friday that he based his conclusion on the information he received from his "mole" in ISAFP and on the bugging device found in a phone junction box near the Quezon City residence of the Aquinos. The device was attached to the former president’s phone line.

"Those were the kind of equipment we turned over to ISAFP," said the opposition senator, who was Philippine National Police and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) chief during the Estrada administration.

He said his task force worked closely with ISAFP.

"We had military intelligence personnel who were detailed with PAOCTF. Doble was one of them," added.

He was referring to T/Sgt. Vidal Doble, the ISAFP agent accused of wiretapping President Arroyo and then Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in the run-up to the May 2004 presidential election.

The wiretapping led to the "Hello, Garci" election fraud-related scandal that remains unresolved up to now.

Asked why ISAFP would bug Mrs. Aquino, Lacson said the motive could be to embarrass the Arroyo administration "or revive the ‘Hello, Garci’ controversy."

"It could also be some agents had a deal with Team Unity to wiretap Mrs. Aquino," he said. – Jess Diaz