‘Garci’ to run for Congress?

From election commissioner to possible candidate in the elections of 2007, the saga of the ever-controversial Virgilio Garcillano continues.

After being at the center of one of the biggest election controversies that triggered a crisis of legitimacy for the Arroyo administration, the nation may soon find Garcillano, former commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), trying his luck in politics.

Sen. Franklin Drilon disclosed yesterday that Garcillano plans to run for congressman in the first district of Bukidnon, which is also reportedly the former poll official’s home province, in next year’s midterm elections.

"My information is that Commissioner Garcillano is going to run for

Congress in Bukidnon," Drilon said during a regular media forum in Manila.

He predicted that Garcillano, who was accused of tampering with the results of May 2004 presidential and national elections in favor of President Arroyo and other administration and opposition candidates, would win the local elections in 2007.

"So you have Garcillano, who undoubtedly will win the election, and now he will be called the honorable gentleman from the province of Bukidnon," Drilon said in jest.

Drilon said Garcillano plans to take the place of Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta of the opposition, whose third and last term ends next year.

Bukidnon is where Garcillano reportedly hid when opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives were hunting him to shed light on the alleged "Hello Garci" wiretapping scandal.

Acosta is a member of the Liberal Party (LP), where Drilon is the party leader.

Garcillano has been the subject of both Senate and House inquiries to clarify the alleged wire-tapped conversation with the President during the 2004 presidential election.