Witness vs Garcillano to surface - sources

MANILA, Philippines -  As the Senate gears up for the investigation on the alleged fraud in the 2004 and 2007 elections, a new witness is ready to surface to pin down former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Sources said the new witness will be vital in providing the government information on the role of Garcillano to ensure the victory of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2004 elections.

“This witness is ready to reveal all he knew about the 2004 elections, including officers of the Armed Forces involved in the vote rigging,” the source said.

Senators also uncovered several vital pieces of information out of the annexes of the Mayuga report, which is the purported result of the probe initiated by the Arroyo administration on the “Hello, Garci” scandal.

Senate to summon Esperon, others

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who is pushing for the re-opening of the “Hello, Garci” inquiry at the Senate, did not discount the possibility that former AFP chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. and other defense officials implicated in the poll fraud will be called in the upcoming Senate investigation.

Lacson said the Senate will be inviting the personalities mentioned in the “Hello, Garci” scandal.

Esperon was AFP deputy chief of staff for operations and deputy commander of Task Force HOPE (Honest, Orderly, Peaceful Elections) at that time.

Interviewed after the hearing on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) budget, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said the joint Comelec-Department of Justice (DOJ) panel will be conducting a parallel probe on the poll fraud issue.

Asked how certain AFP officials can be made accountable for the P101-million Comelec fund allegedly disbursed to the AFP to ensure Arroyo’s victory in 2004, Brillantes noted that the election fund was also mentioned in the Mayuga report but he has not personally looked into it.

“This is part of the Mayuga report. We are not accepting at face value the results of the Mayuga report because it has been sanitized. So we are looking at its annexes,” Brillantes said.

“They have to liquidate it. If we give them a certain amount, they should liquidate them to us on how they utilized it. Most instances, we give the PNP and the AFP gasoline, lubricants in kind but they are the ones who buy them. That’s for their mobilization (expenses),” Brillantes explained.

“They (AFP officials) who used the funds other than the intended purpose, should indicate them to us,” Brillantes said, adding that he had not actually personally looked into the Comelec funds in question.

A source said that some P101 million of Comelec funds were diverted to intelligence projects by the Armed Forces in 2004, wherein P 80 million was used for the so-called intelligence projects, Jupiter Sierra (P15 million); Starbucks (P12 million); Nescafe (P8 million); Turban (P20 million) and Salakot (P7 milliom).

Of the amount, P6 million was provided to the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP); P10 million to the Philippine Army and P 5 million to the Navy. “The ISAFP, then headed by Rear Admiral Tirso Danga, was later tagged in the wiretapping of the phones of Garcillano, who was recorded talking to a female person believed to be former President Arroyo.

The P 80-million so-called Comelec fund was released to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence then under Maj. Gen. Pedro Ramboanga and turned over to its budget officer Maj. Jane Cavanas.

Cavanas has reportedly said she had turned over the entire amount to then Lt. Col. Gilbert Gapay.

Brillantes said the so-called “Garci boys” will be included in the investigation on the alleged cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections.

After repeated criticisms from Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano about his supposed inaction on the Comelec officials identified with Garcillano, Brillantes said the poll officers would also be investigated to put the issue to rest once and for all.

“They want to clear their names,” he said.

Brillantes was asked by Sen. Franklin Drilon, Senate committee on finance chairman, what he was doing about the concerns raised by Cayetano regarding the Garci boys.

During the confirmation hearing of Brillantes before the Commission on Appointments, Cayetano said that he could not understand why the Garci boys led by director Ray Sumalipao are still holding key positions in the Comelec.

According to Cayetano, Sumalipao was the most mentioned name as the alleged operator of Garcillano during the 2004 elections.

Sumalipao, who was then assistant election director for Region XI, was designated as the election director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao election this year, which was eventually cancelled by Congress.

Apart from Sumalipao, Cayetano identified the other Garci boys as Renault Macarambon of Lanao del Sur who is currently head of the Comelec’s election and barangay affairs division; Renato Magbutay, election director of Region X; Teopisto Elnas Jr., Director 4 of the election and barangay affairs division; Cirilo Nala Jr., Comelec supervisor of Surigao del Sur; and Francisco Pobe, election director of the CARAGA region. – With Marvin Sy