EDITORIAL - Tale of the tapes

Two things are clear in the exchange of accusations over taped phone conversations. One is how much the electoral system has been compromised by public officials themselves. Another is that electronic communication is being tapped illegally, and those doing it in this country have the capability to intercept even cell phone conversations.

Not that these are new revelations. Filipinos have come to expect cheating in every electoral exercise; groups that seek to preserve the integrity of the vote merely try to keep the cheating from becoming so blatant it reverses the outcome of the polls. And wiretapping scandals have been around even during the Marcos regime. Both the military and police, which can legally conduct electronic surveillance if covered by a court order, have been implicated periodically in illegal wiretapping.

Yet little has been done to discourage poll fraud and illegal wiretapping. So far there has been no effort to call in neutral experts who can authenticate recordings of wiretapped conversations, or at least determine which parts have been spliced together or tacked on. Those tapes will form the basis for a presidential impeachment, yet no one has moved to validate the integrity of the recordings. The main concern of lawmakers was to play the recordings in public – which they have done. But many people had made their conclusions on the scandal a long time ago, anyway, so when the faces of congressmen came on, listening to the tapes or dozing off, people simply switched TV channels.

Now a key ally of President Arroyo has come up with his own tapes of wiretapped conversations, of course implicating opposition figures in wrongdoing including a supposed assassination plot on the Chief Executive. The disclosure of Luis Singson will also have to be investigated. Alongside determining the truth and punishing the guilty, however, the nation must move to correct the flaws that gave rise to these scandals. Illegal wiretapping must be discouraged, and everyone who has violated the law in this case must be prosecuted and given appropriate punishment.

Of urgent concern is the overhaul of the electoral system. This includes not just a reorganization of the Commission on Elections but also a sincere effort to reform a culture that looks the other way in the face of vote shaving and padding and the use of guns, goons and gold to influence the vote. And it includes measures that will put an end to candidates calling up poll officials and military and police officers for assistance in committing an electoral offense.