EDITORIAL – If the hypocrites are really innocent, why call the 'go-to' guy?

What is so hot about former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano that it seems so important to know who he talked to or did not talk to on the phone before, during, and after the campaign period for the 2004 elections?

The answer is, of course, that it has become the inference by most people that telephone conversations with Garcillano in relation to the 2004 elections has got something to do with electoral fraud.

And that is most unfair. There is no law that prohibits anyone from talking to a Comelec official on the phone. It is not even immoral or improper per se, although we know of certain types who would actually frown on such conversation.

For such conversations to be dragged down in the slime of unsavory conjecture, the substance of the conversations has to be ascertained, and that is what makes the controversy surrounding Garcillano so tricky.

So far, nobody has the evidence, whether legally or illegally obtained, to show that the unsavory conjecture that has somehow attached to those telephone conversations could stand legal scrutiny that could lead to conviction, or at least the truth claims to be searching for.

So what if Garcillano talked to the entire electoral slate in the last election. Does that by itself constitute fraud? But it seems that nobody, aside from those already exposed, are admitting that they talked to Garcillano.

The way all this controversy is making Garcillano appear is that he is the go-to guy in an election. If that is the case, then there are so many people who could get damned even if they protest their innocence to high heavens.

If Garcillano is the go-to guy as his enemies suggest he is, then that fact about himself should not be lost on anyone interested in utilizing that fact. In other words, all those who talked to Garcillano are not as innocent as they proclaim themselves to be.

Using the opposition yardstick of circumstantial incrimination, when you go to a go-to guy, you must be up to something. For if your business with the Comelec is innocent, why not call somebody else in the poll body? Why does it have to be the go-to guy?