TWENTY-FIVE years after EDSA 1, a quarter of a century after the "fascist" Ferdinand E. Marcos dictatorship was dismantled, the Philippines is in WORSE straits. We should repudiate, NOT celebrate, the "People Power" of 1986, as well as the 2001 EDSA II, for its end results. Instead of uplifting the condition and morality of the Filipinos, it led us deep into the quagmire of greater poverty and virtual amorality.
Whereas, during the Martial Law period, the opposition's mantra was "clean and fair and honest elections," today, some well-educated Filipinos openly HAIL electoral cheating, thanking Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the 2004 "Hello Garci" POLL FRAUD that prevented the presidency of Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ).
Narinig mula sa isang kuwarto sa College of Science, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas-Diliman, mga dalawang taon na ang nakakaraan:
Binata: Buti na lang nandaya si Gloria Arroyo. Ayoko nga kay FPJ."
By the way, no one among his classmates raised hell over his pro-poll fraud comment.
Here's another. Conversation in a Facebook secret group:
R---- M------ 3:34pm Feb 12:
"well jesusa i would rather have poll fraud or insult the few... that garci incident is a saving grace for all of us because if fpj became president we would end up a 4th world country or maybe we would end up in the movies."
Jesusa Bernardo 11:42pm Feb 11:
"insult the few? lol. eh di sana hindi na nandaya si arrobo dorobo. anyway, as i said, i've got to give it to you for your honesty in embracing the crime and immoral act of poll fraud and insulting the wisdom of the people. :)"
Noong panahon ni Marcos, ang pangunahing reklamo ng mga nasa oposisyon, kabilang ang mga nasa poder ng kapangyarihan ngayon tulad ng mga Aquino-Cojuangco at si Sen. Joker Arroyo, ay ang kawalan ng kalayaan na ihalal ang tunay na nais na bayan. Makaraang mapatalsik si Marcos, lahat ng halalang pangpanguluhan maliban noong 1998 kung kailan nanalo si Pangulong Joseph "Erap" Estrada, ay may bahid ng pandaraya.
The most pronounced and despicably massive cases of poll fraud and cover-up were the 2004 Hello Garci and the recent 2010 Hocus Pcos elections benefiting Arroyo and the incumbent "President" Benigno "Noynoy" Cojuangco Aquino III, respectively. What's even more revolting is that the political and business elites conspired to oust the only genuinely democratically post-Marcos President, Pres. Erap, practically from Day 1 of his term.
In terms of greater poverty, those who have lived long enough to be able to compare the Marcos days with the next era, particular after the EDSA 2 coup against Erap, simply can tell how more difficult life has become in this country. Very high electricity rates--in fact one of the highest in the world-- and higher food prices and transportation costs. Kahit na maraming kababayan natin ang OFW at sumusuporta sa ekonomiya, marami nang kumakain ng "PAGPAG" (kaning baboy) ngayon. Sa payak na pananalita, MAS MAHIRAP mabuhay at gumalaw. Walang pasalamat sa EDSA.
It should be noted that OFFICIAL poverty statistics surprisingly show a decrease in the number of poor Filipinos from the Marcos years until today. The official figures have long been suspected to be 'doctored' somehow, particularly during Arroyo's time. Asian Development Bank's Karin Schelzig points to one explanation behind the seeming disconnect of the official figures with poverty on the ground:
Actually, just recently, the The National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) tweaked the survey method again "by reducing the computation of those under poverty line from those earning P41 per person per day to just P37 per person per day" as reported by the Daily Tribune. Applying the new computing method, the number of poor Filipinos in 2009 was reduced to only 23 million from the 27.6 million based on the old method. Schelzig concludes that (official) figures on Philippine poverty may underestimate urban poverty because of survey methods, and that they may be "worth less in real terms" because poverty lines failed to keep up with inflation over time. With the recent THIRD change in methodology for estimating poverty and the glossing over of high inflation, official poverty figures have been rendered more of illusory and sallowly propagandistic.
The sad, pathetic state of hunger of millions of the Filipinos under the yellows is perhaps well symbolized by the documentary of Ferdinand Dimadura, "Chicken a la Carte" (see video below). Winner of the 56th Berlin International Film festival competition for the Most Popular Short film category, the 2005 documentary shows how a Filipino breadwinner regularly gives Pagpag fast food table scraps, normally recycled for animal consumption, as festive food for his family.
The EDSA legacy is not worth celebrating but, rather, condemning. Just look where the Filipinos are today. Our people have regressed not only economically but also in terms of political morality. It has become acceptable even for the normally idealistic youth to trash morals and democratic ideals just because they so dislike a popular but unacceptable-to-them presidentiable.
I say, it's more of [EDSA "People Power" = Poll Fraud + Power Grab].
To be more accurate:
[EDSA "People Power" = Political disempowerment + Amorality + Poverty].
The ghost of Fernando Poe Jr., or FPJ for short, was reportedly seen by his grave at the Manila North Cemetery on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. The 'apparition' witness asks why FPJ chose to show himself to her. The incident seems to be the first time the man deprived of the 2004 presidential victory "Hello Garci" style made himself visible by his tomb. Could it be that because we are only months away from another opportunity of presidential reckoning, FPJ wants the people to remember? Is Poe Jr., called by many as the genuine 14th President of the Philippines, asking the Filipinos not to vote for all those who conspired to cheat him, hid the real numbers and installed instead the "Hello Garci " perpetrator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Is FPJ asking the people not to vote the parties that operated at either the military/Comelec or congressional canvassing level--Lakas-Kampi and the Liberal Party (LP)?
Whether or not the apparition is genuine, or that the "ghost" is really that of FPJ or, for that matter, whether ghosts or spirits of dead people are real, Filipinos should well learn from the lessons of the 2004 presidential elections and proclamation fraud. If the people of the Southeast Asian islands with a blatantly colonial name, i.e., the Philippines, are to emerge not necessarily as one and united, but even just as a race dignified by basic morals of fairness and electoral honesty, they would need to learn from its recent electoral history.
As seen in the GMA-7's "24 Oras" news video footage, an apparition or figure of sorts that looked , moved and dressed like FPJ seemed to have left or passed through the late actor's image on the hanged tarpaulin poster hanging by the wall of his tomb. The incident was captured by the cellphone camera of a woman who visited Poe's tomb. A computer video expert concluded that the footage was either genuine or made by a very technologically sophisticated hoaxer.
Why FPJ could warn us of Lakas-Kampi is obvious. The coalition party is, of course, the party of Arroyo--the machinery that has assured legislative conformity with her unpatriotic agenda and, perhaps more importantly, has primarily squashed all the impeachment attempts against her. Why FPJ would warn the Filipinos about the Liberal Party may not seem so obvious but it probably has all to do with how he got cheated in 2004.
The LP, along with Lakas-Kampi, is thought to be responsible for the congressional dimension of the 2004 presidential poll fraud and cover-up. Making an apparition capturable by a phone camera is possibly FPJ's way of reminding of the electoral injustice done to him and the people. 'Don't vote Lakas-Kampi or LP come May 2010,' could be the message of the ghost of the man cheated of presidential victory "Hello Garci" style.
Of course, one could claim that FPJ is playing partisan politics, and probably wants his followers to give him posthomous justice by voting for Chiz Escudero, the "batang trapo" (says the democratically uncivil "civil society) who took the cudgel of being his spokesperson during the 2004 presidential polls. Then again, Poe Jr. could be campaigning for his friend, former President Joseph Estrada who was, in the first place, responsible for convincing him to run against Arroyo in 2004. These two speculations, of course, are hinged on whether the apparition is genuine and/or whether spirits are real.
Liberal Party Record
Skeptics will definitely not buy the message-of-FPJ-ghost theory. One does not need to believe in apparitions to see that the Liberal Party does not really stand for genuine change, however. The party and its stalwarts ex-Sen. Jovito Salonga and now-presidential contender Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III have a recent history of disrespect for the Constitution and simply being tolerant, if not actually engaging in immoral or unethical politics.
In Oplan Excelsis/EDSA 2 Coup
First, these party big-names helped installed the Illegitimate, later surveyed to be the "Most Corrupt President in Philippine History." During the height of the anti-Estrada movement back in 2000-2001, Salonga was, of course in the forefront of those wanting Erap to resign or be impeached. Noynoy Aquino was then a Congressman for Tarlac. As recounted by The Daily Tribune's Ninez Cacho-Olivares, the only son of the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino and ex-President Corazon "Cory" Aquino, was among those who hailed the move of then-Speaker Manuel "Manny" Villar to transmit the impeachment complaint to the Senate-even without the benefit of plenary vote.
When things didn't work out to their liking during the Senate impeachment hearings, the LP members joined those who walked out and amassed in EDSA 2 to oust Estrada. Of course, the 2001 coup was "legitimized" by the Davide court's ruling that Joseph Estrada did "constructive resignation" even in the absence of a resignation letter or actual physical incapacity. Still, that novel , never-before-heard SC decision won't take away the fact that it was a coup, the fruition of Plan B of the Oplan Excelsis revealed in October 2000 by The Daily Tribune, which was, in turn, predated by a series of Manila Standard articles on anti-Estrada destabilization efforts during the early part of the same year.
LP's Role in 2004 Poll Cheating/Cover-up
Next, their disloyalty to the Constitution by way of the penchant for going against the people's will was manifested anew during the 2004 elections. Not only did Salonga, et al. avidly campaign for Arroyo but worse, they took part in what the "Hello Garci" tapes would later reveal to be a fraudulent proclamation of the "President-elect."
As described by Daily Tribune's Demaree Raval, this was accomplished when "the leaders of the LP railroaded the national [congressional] canvass." The LP was "in the thick of the cheating" as its leaders simply noted the objections while members of Fernando Poe's camp "were crying themselves hoarse against the fraud" during the congressional canvassing. It should be recalled that LP Sen. Francisco "Kiko" Pangilinan was the chairman of the Joint Congressional Canvassing Committee.
The opposition camp was trying to present evidence of electoral fraud before the committee but they were basically not allowed to. The lawyers, and congressional supporters of FPJ and running mate Loren Legarda were blocked from having select ballot boxes containing contested certificates of canvass or COCs opened. During the canvassing, Pangilinan earned the moniker of "Sen. Noted" because he struck down all objections and arguments to prove electoral fraud by his frequent utterances of the now-infamous word "Noted."
Raval also writes that opposition solons and lawyers were prevented by LP members from even speaking or presenting "the election returns to prove the lie of the manufactured certificates of canvass." He must be referring to the likes of Cong. Butch Abad, LP representative from Batanes, who silenced the voice of those who justly wanted Congress to look into the evidence of presidential poll fraud. Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III, then an LP congressman from Tarlac, might not have actively taken part in railroading the canvass but as journalist Ninez Cacho-Olivares notes, "kept his mouth shut even in the face of massive electoral cheating."
For the flimsy excuse that it would take a long time to study the questioned COCs, the country was deprived of knowing who really won in the 2004 presidential polls. Subsequently, Liberal Party solons led by Senate President Franklin Drilon and Pangilinan, along with other congressional cheats, sealed the canvassing charade when they surreptitiously proclaimed Gloria as the "President-elect" during the wee hours of the June 24, 2004. A break-of-dawn congressional proclamation (earlier, actually: 3:38 am) was unprecedented but it succeeded in preempting any protest or opposition action that could have derailed Arroyo's "proclamation."
In the 2004 deprivation of the Filipinos' right to clean and honest polls, the LP played a crucial role. Arroyo, and players like LP members, thought they got away with the great crime that the "Hello, Garci" expose would later unravel.
Telling "Hello Garci' Tapes
The wiretapped evidence of 2004 electoral fraud (OK, alleged) was first exposed in mid-2005. Former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong later would soon present the master tapes. The wiretapped records that have come to be known as the "Hello Garci" tapes primarily show the conversations between Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and elections commissioner Virgilio "Garci" Garcillano in connection with operations surrounding the May 11 elections and vote canvassing. The operations revealed by the tapes were designed to cheat Arroyo's way towards her continued hold on power and rob FPJ of electoral victory.
The more telling of the tapes shows a woman believed to be Arroyo asking "Garci" to ensure for her a 1 million lead over FPJ. In another dated May 26, 2004, Arroyo informs Garci that she has "allies" in the Senate, which could allow them to delay "the senatorial canvassing until after the voting on the rules" that night.
Actually, even prior to May 2004, the LP seemed to have already taken the resolve to ensure the victory of Arroyo by hook or by crook. Raval writes on the role of the LP in trying to disqualify FPJ from the 2004 presidential elections:
"Even before the elections, the senators belonging to the LP prevented the report of the Angara Committee establishing the Manapat forgeries on the birth certificate of then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. and the marriage certificate of FPJ's parents."
Raval tags the LP members responsible for the 2004 proclamation of Arroyo as perhaps the country's "worst politicians," having gone "to bed with her, who prostituted themselves for political patronage, who enjoyed the power that went with being with the lying and the cheating and the stealing, then all too suddenly turned against Gloria" when the "Hello Garci" tapes were exposed.
What the Daily Tribune columnist is basically saying is the LP members who took part in the 2004 electoral fraud are immoral political chameleons who could change color as readily as they cried "Garci!" Obviously, why the LP leaders broke off with Gloria in 2005 was the opportunity to make the people falsely believe that they took no part in cheating FPJ in favor of Arroyo.
On July 8, 2005, practically as soon as the "Hello Garci" expose hugged the headlines, Cory called for a news conference where she asked Arroyo to resign. For a time, she continued her demand for the illegitimate's resignation, with her son Noynoy joining in as a good chunk of LP members bolted out of the alliance with Gloria.
This makes one wonder, however, whether the reason why Salonga, et al joined in the "Hello Garci" condemnation was only to make it falsely appear to the late former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino that during the whole time that they went through the motions of canvassing and proclamation, they were totally unaware of Arroyo's cheating? One could even ask whether the LP did it only so that Noynoy would not be chastised by his mother for doing nothing while FPJ was cheated in the canvassing? Either one of these or Cory herself was part of, or aware of, the 2004 poll fraud and cover-up--something rather unlikely.
"Dadayain"
As early as around April 2004, this column was already aware that poll fraud will be done to ensure Gloria Arroyo's presidential victory. A person rather close to me, and within the vicinity of power no matter how low-key s/he may be, confided that "dadayain" the presidential elections. I remember him/her adding something like "I hope the country can weather the storm that is sure to come."
Salonga and this person share a rather influential organization, one breeding ground of the influential (clue: University of the Philippines). If this resource person of mine was aware of the operation to doctor the 2004 presidential elections, so were Sen. Salonga and, it should logically follow, the rest of Liberal Party biggies.
My resource person did not actually name Salonga or the Liberal Party as parties to the poll fraud plan. Neither did I ask him/her who exactly were involved because I couldn't accept his/her revelations to be true (s/he also vaguely talked of the advanced parties from Gloria's camp as distributing goodies in areas where poll-related surveys were scheduled to be held). I guess I couldn't believe that "good people" in the government would allow something as blatantly immoral as cheating to happen. Suffice it to say, however, that putting the two and two of "Hello Garci," Sen. "Noted," and my resource person's political/organizational ties and revelations together, a not unclear role of the LP in the 2004 presidential poll fraud emerges.
FPJ Ghost or no FPJ Ghost
Whether or not the FPJ cemetery ghost story is real, the Filipino people need to be wary of the Liberal Party of today, nay, punish the party by not voting their bets. By the way, Kris Aquino reportedly is being visited by the spirit of her mom. The late Cory Aquino, it should be recalled, apologized to former President Estrada for part in the "2001 uprising." Noynoy apparently tried to save face for the Liberal Party by claiming that the apology was a joke but the only compromise he was ultimately able to wrangle from his mom was the statement that it was indeed "said in jest but she's not taking it back."
It seems fairly obvious to anyone sober enough not to be taken by the lies of EDSA 2 that Noynoy Aquino's association with LP make him a 'bad trapo'? Is it possible that Cory's ghost is telling the same message--Noynoy be wary of, rather, get out from, the seemingly politically prostituted party that is LP!?
Note: One of my parents was an avid LP supporter. I don't exactly feel good because I never thought I'll be writing something like this about the party to which Diosdado Macapagal and Ninoy Aquino belonged. Change for the moral good, genuine good change, is what our country needs, however. Besides, isn't the need to ensure "clean and honest elections" one of the chief lessons the Philippines is supposed to have learned from the Marcos experience (when even the bird, bees and the dead supposedly voted in 1969, ultimately allowing Apo Ferdie's 1972 declaration of Martial Law)?
The necrological services on the fourth day of the wake of former President Corazon Aquino struck this column as disconcertingly Edsa 2 in composition and sound, no matter that the VIPs who remained in their pews represented all the Edsa revolts--Edsa 1, 2 & 3. Except for Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, the public figures who took the podium were movers or stalwarts of the 2001 "People Power" power grab.
Warning: Only for those who take psychic "predictions" not to heart.
The decade was the mid-1980s when I watched the documentary on Nostradamus' predictions, the much acclaimed The Man Who Saw Tomorrow. Much of its contents had already slipped my mind (until I recently decided to revisit the movie via YouTube) but based from the presentation, I remember telling myself then that the French seer has a near-prophetic accuracy at foretelling the future, and that he has some rather dire predictions in store for the modern humans. I wasn't inclined, however, to buy his predictions hook, line and sinker. While I was try to keep an open mind as a matter of "scientific thinking" policy, I'm not the gullible type because I always seek valid evidence before getting myself to believe anything.
One of Nostradamus astounding predictions shown in the film is the supposed devastation of the world being brought about by a nuclear war instigated by a Muslim leader from the "East." As show in the film, the man, clad in an apparently Muslim garb with blue turban, will launch a nuclear weapon targeting the United States of America. Keep in mind that the year this was shown was the 1980s and that at the time, the "enemy" of the US was no other than the communist superpower Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. Back then, any Muslim country being able to stand up to the US was unthinkable. Moreover, the Cold War had every country and everyone fearing that the end of the world would come via a nuclear missile exchange between the two superpowers.
As history would later unfold, the improbable happened when the once indivisible USSR and its communist bloc began disintegrating, beginning in the late 1980s. Was this historical development a proof of the accuracy of Nostradamus' predictions?
Predictions of an "Apo"
Amidst numerous internet sites insinuating, if not actually naming Democratic standard bearer Barack Obama as the next "anti-Christ" mentioned in Nostradamus quatrains, I ventured to seek a more "enlightened" interpretation of the Nostradamus predictions that potentially relates to Obama and the future of the world. I then set out to "consult" with a low-profile psychic I've heard about for years. I've been aware of his political predictions on the Philippine scene--which I constantly question in my mind but most of which have so far proved to be true.
Ever since the Edsa 2 coup that deposed the constitutionally elected Joseph Estrada and catapulted the power grabbing Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the presidency, I must admit I have been hoping for some news or "predictions" that would rectify this grave political sin against the Filipino people. Apo, however, would consistently predict that the fake "President" Arroyo would continue her hold on power--despite the pro-Estrada Edsa 3 failed revolution, numerous coup rumors and attempts, and electoral exercises, particularly the 2004 elections (which official results declaring Arroyo's win over opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr. proved to have been rigged by a conspiracy among Arroyo, certain Comelec and military officials, administrations senators and congressmen, and perhaps even the NAMFREL "watchdog").
Obama victory
Apo has very interesting things to say on both the Philippine and American political scenes, and the world in general. What will happen in America in the next months or years, it seems, will gravely impact on world developments. Well, the United States being the sole remaining superpower, it's hardly surprising that developments in the US influence events in other parts of the globe.
The Democratic ticket led by Barack Obama will most likely win the November elections, says Apo. The final vote tally will yield an approximately 33 percent lead over the Republican tandem of McCain and Palin. Unfortunately, there's a second, unpalatable part of this prediction. Barack Obama's presidency will be marked by pronounced materialism. Contrary to Obama's apparent idealism, his latent materialist agenda will surface once he takes over the administration of the USA.
There's much more. The low-key psychic says that Obama's win will signal the beginning of the world era of much difficulty and chaos. The global recession obtaining at the moment will not be resolved by the new administration, and instead, will deteriorate into a world crisis. Also, Obama will supposedly befriend, or be befriended by, a political figure of a Muslim state--an association that would somehow adversely impact on President Obama's foreign affairs and domestic policies. Apo says that Nostradamus' dire predictions for the US and the world could likely come to fruition under the Obama presidency (He did not elaborate so I'm not sure what particular Nostradamus quatrain he refers to, but I'm wondering whether he meant the scenario of that Middle Eastern man with blue turban bringing terror to the West as depicted in The Man Who Saw Tomorrow movie).
Assassination attempts on Arroyo & Estrada
Apo also predicts that deposed and defamed ex-President Joseph Estrada will run again for the Philippine presidency. Based on current developments when the opposition appears disunited, and on past statements of Estrada indicating that he'll run himself if the opposition will not field a unified candidate, this prediction does not seem far-fetch. The psychic also says the former President will win--something not really surprising, considering how he continues to be mobbed wherever he goes and how various surveys show how the Filipinos view him as innocent of the Plunder charges for which he was convicted.
The startling part of Apo's Estrada prediction is that the defamed Philippine President will be assassinated by a group who cannot accept his comeback in Philippine politics. Such a scenario would not come, however, before Gloria Arroyo herself, the incumbent who grabbed power from Estrada, and who is widely believed to have cheated opposition standard bearer FPJ during the 2004 elections, becomes subject to an assassination plot after she steps down in 2010.
Apo has more to say, like the Philippines doing an Atlantis (translation: will sink deep into the ocean bottom) if the Filipinos don't reform as a nation--whatever he means by that. His other predictions are still far fetched in time, so for the moment, my focus is on his short-to-medium term predictions. Are Apo's "predictions" accurate, just silly figments of imagination, or simply hoax material?
Frankly, I find Apo's predictions very bleak and rather belonging to the doomsdayers' stuff. I've been tempted to dismiss them as crazy stuff had I not reminded myself that this same Apo told me some six months earlier that Obama would prevail over Hillary Clinton in the primaries(much to my violent chagrin because I was hoping for a Hillary-Obama Democratic ticket). Ever the rational yet open-minded fellow that I am, I think I'm going to wait and see.
The US elections are a done deal. Obama wins. Now brace yourself for the determining figures: Obama's 349 vs. McCain's 163 electoral votes, out of a total of 512. Next, do your math. Final tally reveals that Obama got 68.16%, over McCain's 31.86%. In approximate terms, the resulting difference is one-third, or in exact figures, 36.3% electoral vote lead.
Are you getting the shudders now? Apo predicted about one-third Obama lead, which I wrote as "approximately 33 percent lead over Mccain." Given that the Apo meant the figure as an approximation, I say this part of his predictions has been "proved" right: so accurate that if it is off, it's just by a only around 3.3%. I've been sort of hoping that the final figures would be far away from Apo's predictions because if that were the case, logic would dictate that the rest of his morbid foretelling would be wrong as well.
Unfortunately, that ain't the case. I'm starting to wonder whether former First Lady and Senator Hillary Clinton never really stood a chance against Sen. Barack during the primaries. Has Obama's victory been long written in the stars? I mean, long been fated, and inscribed on the Akashic records by Nostradamus?
Postscript 2: (5 November 2008)
There's one "heavy" part of Apo's prediction that I opted not to include because it was so "negative" of a future America. I've decided to append this deleted portion in the aftermath of Obama's victory because it should look good contrasting with the future policies of the US President-elect who campaigned on a mantra of liberal, progressive change, Here it is: "Under the Obama presidency, America will show its true color, evil color."
How Americans, or the US, can be so wicked as described in the prediction is beyond me. I'm thinking it may have something to do with what the Apo himself described as the materialist course Obama is supposed to lead his country into. The world knows America to be a bully and even actual colonizer in the past but for it to be termed "evil" sounds like an exaggeration.
WHEN Gloria Macapagal Arroyo [delivered] her eighth State of the Nation Address at the Batasang Pambansa session hall [last July 28, 2008], she [stood] close to where, three years ago, police commandos say they replaced genuine election returns (ERs) with fake ones in ballot boxes that were being readied for a recount of the 2004 presidential election.
The ER switching at the Batasan had been talked about and reported on since 2005, when Arroyo apologized to the nation for talking to an election official while the votes were being counted, in what has since been known as the "Hello, Garci" scandal.
Recently, some of those who took part in that clandestine operation have sought legal refuge, executing affidavits and taped testimonies of their involvement. Others told friends in confidence, while a few boasted about it in drinking sessions.
They said they switched the ERs of several provinces on three occasions to reconcile these with the figures in the certificates of canvass (COCs) and statements of votes (SOVs) that were tampered with in the 2004 elections.
The stories told by some of the participants and their confidants in the Batasan operation constitute what could be grounds for another impeachment case against Arroyo.
They revive allegations that not only did the President cheat in the 2004 elections, but also tried to cover her tracks by switching the ERs that would have been scrutinized in 2005. At that time, the presidential electoral protest filed by Arroyo's opponent, Fernando Poe Jr., was still pending. Poe died of a heart attack in December 2004, but his widow, Susan Roces, pursued the protest.
Orders came from Ebdane and Franco
Among those who took part in the Batasan operation were members of the Special Action Force (SAF), an elite combat unit of the Philippine National Police
Some of them said they got their orders from Gen. Marcelino Franco, then commanding officer of the SAF. Both Franco and the then chief of the SAF Intelligence and Investigation Division, Supt. Rafael Santiago, were present at a briefing on the operation, SAF sources said.
The SAF sources refused to be named for fear of their safety and those of their families.
"Basta ang initial info po sa amin ay legal operation po ito pero hindi pa namin alam ang nature ng operation (The initial info we got was that it was a legal operation, but we didn't know the nature of the operation)," a SAF commando said. Franco, in turn, got his orders from the former PNP chief, Brig Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., a trusted adviser of Arroyo, SAF sources said.
Ebdane had denied the allegations in previous reports. VERA Files tried getting his side of the story but has not received a reply.
Franco, who has since retired from the PNP and is assistant vice president of Security Bank, also declined to comment on his role in the ER switching operation. Santiago, now senior superintendent and head of the Northern Police District's Intelligence and Investigation Division, ignored requests for an interview.
How the switching happened
SAF sources said the first ER switching operation took place around midnight of Jan. 23, 2005, a Sunday.
Here's what happened based on interviews, taped testimonies, and documents obtained by VERA Files.
A van and three other vehicles arrived at the South Wing entrance of the Batasan complex. Two dozen people alighted from the vehicles, five of them non-commissioned officers, the rest civilians. Santiago was the team leader.
At that time, a makeshift storage room had been erected at the South Wing lobby for ballot boxes containing the returns of the 2004 elections. The boxes had been brought there for the national canvassing.
The go signal came from SAF officers, among them Inspectors Rafael Lero and Samson Kimayong. While some stood guard, others unloaded from the van some 20 to 30 cigarette cartons containing documents.
As a lock picker opened the ballot boxes, SAF commandos said, the others took out the contents of the ballot boxes and replaced them with the documents they brought with them.
After three hours, they packed up, loaded what they took from the ballot boxes into their vehicles and proceeded to the residence of election lawyer Roque Bello in Brookside Hills, Cainta, Rizal.
The operation was repeated six days later on Jan. 29 and on the first weekend of February.
Chief Inspector Ferdinand Ortega, chief of the SAF contingent assigned at the Batasan, was present in all three operations.
Today, Lero and Kimayong have been promoted to senior inspectors and are also assigned at the NPD.
Ortega became commandant of the SAF Training School in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, right after the Batasan operation. Now a superintendent, he heads the SAF operations office in Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig.
Ortega and Lero likewise ignored VERA Files' requests for an interview. Contacted by phone, Kimayong denied any knowledge of the 2005 operation.
Returns fabricated by election lawyer Bello
What the SAF brought to the Batasan South Wing were fake election returns allegedly fabricated under the supervision of Bello. They stuffed these into the ballot boxes after they took out the genuine election returns, which they took to Bello's place.
Contacted for his side, Bello said he had already denied involvement in the operation way back in March 2006 when pictures of the alleged manufacturing of ERs in his house appeared in Malaya and Newsbreak. "It's not true," he reiterated his denial.
Two weeks weeks before the Batasan ER switching operation, Poe's widow, Susan Roces, had petitioned the Presidential Electoral Tribunal to replace her husband in the electoral protest he had initiated.
Poe's running mate, Loren Legarda, had filed a similar protest, questioning the proclamation of her rival Noli de Castro and citing irregularities in the canvassing of votes in a number of provinces, many of them in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
Both Arroyo and De Castro had been proclaimed president and vice president after an administration-dominated Congress acting as National Board of Canvassers declared Arroyo the winner with 12,905,808 votes against closest rival Poe who got 11,782,232 votes. De Castro garnered 15,100,431 votes against Legarda's 14,218,709.
The minority members of the Joint Committee of Congress did not sign the NBC's final report and instead issued "The True Report," which was their own version of the results of the 2004 elections that showed Poe winning over Arroyo by 511,981 votes and Legarda over De Castro by 702,311 votes.
Citing several cases of manufactured election returns, tampered statement of votes and certificates of votes, the minority challenged the joint committee and Congress "to show that the numbers on those questioned certificates of canvass match their corresponding statements of votes and election returns."
"The truth is in those election returns," the minority said.
ERs are documents prepared by boards of election inspectors at the precinct level.
For president and vice president, the ERs are sent to the provincial and city boards of canvassers who then prepare certificates of canvass (COC) supported by statements of votes (SOV). The votes garnered by the candidates in the ER, SOV and COC are supposed to match.
'Hello, Garci'
This, in fact, seemed to be a concern uppermost in Arroyo's mind shortly after the 2004 elections. A portion of the "Hello, Garci" tapes records her voicing her worry to then Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
Following are excerpts from a late evening conversation between Arroyo and Garcillano on June 2, 2004:
GMA: Hello. Dun sa Lanao del Sur tsaka sa Basilan, di raw nagma-match ang SOV sa COC?
Garcillano: Hindi nagma-match? May posibilidad na hindi mag-match kung hindi nila sinunod 'yung individual SOV ng mga munisipyo...
GMA: So, nagma-match?
Garcillano: Oho. Sa Basilan, alam nyo naman ang mga military dun eh, hindi masyadong marunong kasi silang gumawa eh. Katulad ho dun sa Sulu sina General Habacon.
During the congressional canvassing, minority members called the NBC's attention to the disparity in figures reflected in the COCs, which was the basis of the proclamation, and in their copies of SOVs and ERs.
The then presiding officers, Sen. Francis Pangilinan and then Rep. Raul Gonzalez, now justice secretary, brushed aside the minority's concern, and merely responded by saying, "Noted."
Rasalan: Money to tamper returns came from Arroyo
In July 2006, Artemio Rasalan, a self-confessed election operator, executed an affidavit and videotaped confession of his role in what he described as a "grand clandestine operation to head off a looming crisis."
This crisis was expected to erupt once the PET discovered the tampered ERs and the unmatching SOVs and COCs.
Rasalan said Bello had asked him sometime in July 2004 to undertake an operation that would "produce at least 10,000 new election returns duly accompanied by the appropriate Comelec envelopes: officially numbered envelope seals and the official Comelec inks for thumb marking."
He identified nine provinces the ERs of which had to be replaced. These are Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat and Saranggani in Mindanao and Isabela in Luzon.
Rasalan quoted the election lawyer as saying that it was Ebdane who engaged Bello's services on orders of Arroyo. Two months later, Rasalan said, Roque told him he was coordinating closely with Garcillano.
"He (Roque) said the money for this special operation will be provided by PGMA [Arroyo's initials]. As a matter of fact, a few days thereafter, I was told by Attorney Bello that Commissioner Garcillano met with PGMA at her La Vista home to receive the money," Rasalan said.
They started making the fake ERs in mid-October 2004, Rasalan stated. It took them two months to finish the work. He then delivered the 10,000 fabricated ERs to Bello's home in Brookside Hills Subdivision, Cainta, Rizal for the printing of the correct original serial numbers.
With the 10,000 fake ERs ready, the last step was to put them inside the ballot boxes guarded by the SAF at the Batasan building so that when the PET started opening the ballot boxes, the figures there would match those in the tampered COCs and SOVs.
Special Action Force of the Philippines
IT WAS NO accident that it was the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police that penetrated the Batasan Pambansa and stuffed the ballot boxes with fake election returns to make it look like Gloria Arroyo won the 2004 elections.
Established in 1983 initially to help combat insurgency and later to "destroy enemy forces that undermine the nation's stability," the police commandos are trained as a rapid deployment force and to "noiselessly operate in the shadows."
In its 25-year history, the elite unit has not been impervious to the country's political upheavals. The SAF joined the February 1986 people power revolution that followed the defection of its founder, then Armed Forces vice chief of staff and Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police chief Fidel V. Ramos, and toppled President Ferdinand Marcos.
But in early 2005, some of the SAF's own members said they undermined democracy when the unit switched the election returns on orders of former PNP chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr.
Ebdane knew fully well and harnessed the unit's commando skills. After all, he had served as SAF commander from August 1989 to February 1991.
It also helped that the SAF was one of the units securing the House.
Had no one talked, the operation that took place on Jan. 23 and 29 and the first weekend of February 2005 would have been SAF's secret.
Franco 'principled,' but 'pragmatic' too
His colleagues describe Chief Supt. Marcelino Franco, who approved the operation as SAF commander at the time, as a "very serious, principled and highly professional" officer. But they also said that as a leader, he can be "very pragmatic."
Franco would later be implicated in the alleged plan of the Marines and Army Scout Rangers in February 2006 to withdraw support from Arroyo.
In his affidavit, former Armed Forces chief Hermogenes Esperon, then the commanding general of the Philippine Army, said that his two classmates in the Philippine Military Academy (Class '74)-Franco and Maj. Gen. Renato Miranda, then commandant of the Philippine Marines-had asked him to join them in their plan to withdraw support from Arroyo.
Esperon said this happened in a late-night meeting on Feb. 23 at the residence of then AFP chief Generoso Senga. He said Franco confirmed that "most of the elements of SAF-PNP will sympathize with those who will march and withdraw support from PGMA."
Military officers accused of planning the February 2006 protest activity said Franco knew first-hand that Arroyo cheated in the elections. Unlike those who are detained and being tried in court martial for mutiny, no charges were ever filed against Franco.
SAF sources said prior to the Batasan ER switching operation, Franco met with Ebdane and Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. He then entrusted the task to Supt. Rafael Santiago, the commanding officer of SAF's Intelligence and Investigation Division.
Santiago, in turn, brought in young police officers, including Inspectors Rafael Lero and Samson Kimayong.
Santiago is said to be the quintessential intelligence agent. "Now you see him, now you don't," a police officer said.
Chief Inspector Ferdinand Ortega, who headed the SAF unit in the Batasan during the ER switching operation, appears to be well-liked in police circles. A colleague finds him "nakakatawang mayabang (amusing and a braggart)." He is affectionately called "Bungo" or skull, after the famous Baguio City police officer, Bobby Ortega, who was portrayed in two movies by the late actor Rudy Fernandez.
About 6,000 genuine election returns were replaced with manufactured returns in the January to February 2005 operations, a SAF source said.
A fourth operation was planned, but Chief Inspector Jimmy Laguyo, who by then had replaced Ortega at the SAF's unit at the Batasan, refused to cooperate, the source said. Franco had Laguyo transferred to Abra.
The fourth operation never materialized. The unit was kept preoccupied by a failed jailbreak at the SAF headquarters on March 14, 2005 in which suspected Abu Sayyaf members were killed. The Commission on Human Rights had ordered an investigation of the SAF shortly after the incident.
Reward for Batasan operators
The efforts of the SAF commandos who participated in the Batasan operation did not go unrewarded. The enlisted personnel were each given P10,000 one month after the operation.
"May natanggap kaming sobre na ibinigay sa amin na patago na sabi nila, 'Ito panggastos niyo. Ito 'yung reward natin sa operation natin sa Batasan (We were each secretly handed an envelope and told, 'This is for your expenses; this is our reward for the Batasan operation),'" one of them said.
He added, "Nung binuksan ko po 'yung envelope, naglalaman po ng P10,000. Hindi ko alam kung matuwa ako doon o matakot na gastusi 'yun kasi 'yun nga sa operation na 'yun (When I opened the envelope, it contained P10,000. I didn't know if I should be happy or be afraid to spend it because it was for that operation)."
Another enlisted policeman said they were summoned to the SAF office for the "good news." He said the higher-up who handed them the envelopes advised them, "Huwag na lang kayo maingay. Sa atin-atin lang ito (Don't talk about this. Let's keep this among ourselves)."
'Souvenirs' of election returns switching
The switching of the election returns at the Batasan was caught on video through a mobile phone camera. ABS-CBN had shown the video, but it went largely unnoticed.
But a SAF member who took part in the operation also has in his possession evidence-he calls it "souvenir"- of the operation: copies of the genuine election returns.
He said he removed five envelopes containing the returns from the van he was riding after the team left the Batasan compound in February 2005 and brought them home with him. Some of his colleagues did likewise.
The SAF member said he got curious and decided to inspect the contents of the boxes that had not been sealed with masking tape. "Yun 'yung election returns. Dahil po ako isang botante, alam ko po ang style ng election return (They were election returns. I'm a voter, so I know the style of an election return)," he said.
VERA Files was shown the envelopes containing the returns.
After the recordings of the wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and Garcillano on the cheating in the 2004 elections became public, the police commandos involved in the Batasan operation realized the value of the video and election returns in their hands.
Some of them said they all wanted to make public the evidence they had but feared this would endanger their lives and those of their families. They then thought of relocating abroad but they needed money to do that.
Sen. Loren Legarda, who was then protesting Noli de Castro's proclamation as vice president, said in an interview she met with Joel Pinawin, a first lieutenant in the Army Reserve Corps who acted as liaison for the SAF personnel. She was shown a video of ballot boxes being moved at the Batasan but said the video was rather dark.
"But they were selling it to me," she said.
Legarda does not remember the amount that was asked, but a source close to the SAF personnel said the group had hoped to raise P200 million, or P10 million each for the 20 people involved in the operation.
Said Legarda: "Where will I get the money? Kakatalo ko lang. Dinaya ako, malungkot, walang trabaho. Wala akong pera (I just lost. I was cheated, sad, jobless and penniless). I told them to do it for the country."
Election returns now with Comelec
The tampering and swapping of the election returns became evident when the Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal hearing Legarda's election protest, opened the ballot boxes for Nalindong and Taraka towns in Lanao del Sur.
The copies of the returns that were given to the Commission on Elections, National Citizens Movement for Free Elections and the dominant and minority parties showed opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. and Legarda leading Arroyo and De Castro. But the returns in the ballot boxes retrieved from the Batasan showed the opposite.
Despite the discrepancies, the Supreme Court dismissed last January Legarda's petition, citing insufficient evidence of fraud.
Poe's suit against Arroyo before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) was dismissed on March 29, 2005. The tribunal said his widow, actress Susan Roces, could not replace him as petitioner because "she would not immediately and directly benefit from the outcome should it be determined that the declared president did not truly get the highest number of votes."
The returns from the 2004 elections, including the fabricated ones, are no longer at the House of Representatives. Last February, shortly after he became speaker of the House, Rep. Prospero Nograles ordered the ballot boxes containing the returns moved from the South Wing to the Commission on Elections. The makeshift room where they were once stored has been dismantled.
Last March, former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. called for an investigation of the 2005 switching of election returns at the Batasan.
***Note: All additional photos of Gloria Arroyo, Fernando Poe Jr., Noli de Castro, Loren Legarda, Susan Roces and Virgilio Garcillano have been added by Jesusa Bernardo. Additional ER tampering photos were directly taken from the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism website.
SPECIAL NOTE: When using the CiteMAT citation generator for this reprint article, you need to manually input/replace the author's name as "Ellen Tordesillas".
On June 24, 2004, a stealth operation of grave national impact was conducted by the Congress of the Philippines. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the controversial sitting President who took power after the popularly elected Joseph Estrada was deposed in the undemocratic EDSA II conspiracy in January 2001, was proclaimed as the victor of the 2004 May 11 elections in a manner that defied the spirit of electoral victory and the essence of a "proclamation." At around 3:30 am--yes, Virginia, at such a still-dusky morning hour when most Filipinos are generally still tucked in their beds--Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Jose de Venecia raised the hands of Arroyo and proclaimed her "President-elect."
What explains the surreptitious proclamation that ensured the people who were supposed to have given the petite Arroyo the mandate of electoral victory (over "1 M" lead over opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr.) would not be able to share in a supposedly glorious moment is the conspiratorial story of cheating and cover-up sealed at the very halls of the Philippine Congress.
Up until that unprecedented pre-dawn proclamation, Congress was abuzzed with heated deliberations and debates over allegation of massive fraud during the May 11, 2004 polls. The predominantly pro-administration legislators, however, swiftly turned down every protest issue and argument raised by the lawyers and Congress supporters of Poe with the oft-repeated words "Noted" expressed by Senate canvassing committee head Sen. Francis Pangilinan. In the end, Congress, which had turned itself into a joint congressional canvassing panel, elected not to determine the real winner in the 2004 Presidential race by refusing to open the Certificates of Canvass from a few questioned provinces. The frivolous rationale given by the administration allies who made up the majority in Congress was as anomalous as the stealth manner of the 3:30 AM proclamation: it would take a "long time" to finish the canvassing.
Never mind if the questioned COC's would show the real victor voted by the Filipino people. Apparently, the administration solons could not bear to delay the proclamation of their "president-elect"--their presidential candidate they have been allied with since 2001. So, with swift haste and dubious timing, the search for the real victor in the presidential race was killed. Congress proclaimed the controversial Arroyo as "President-elect," to be inaugurated as the 14th President six days later.
The Wiretapped Case of Electoral Fraud
Truth, even political truth, has a way of making itself known, however. Within exactly 12 months since the allegations of massive electoral fraud, tapes of wiretapped conversations would reveal the truth behind the apparently systematic efforts of Congress to cover up the May 11, 2004 and install a bogus president.
The tapes that have come to be known as the "Hello Garci" tapes primarily show the conversations between Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in connection with operations surrounding the May 11 elections and vote canvassing. The operations revealed by the tapes were designed to cheat Arroyo's way towards continued hold on power and rob FPJ of electoral victory. The tapes around 3 hours long were revealed to the public through certain hostile members of the Philippine military. They show other voices, including certain military loyalist, and reveal an apparently broad conspiracy of electoral fraud perpetuated by Malacanang, the Commission of Elections and its "citizen's arm" NAMFREL.
The authenticity of the tapes, particularly the authenticity of the voices of Arroyo and Garcillano, has been verified by the companies Uniquest Pty (Australia) and Voice Identification (United States). Uniquest's Brian Lovell, forensic voice expert of note, expressed the professional opinion that "there is no evidence that would suggest that the conversations have been altered in any way from their original recorded form."
The following are the transcripts* of the more "telling" selections of the Hello Garci tapes, alternatively called Gloriagate tapes. The person addressed as "Ma'am" in the conversations, or "Code 1" and "PGMA" by the narrator refers to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; the "Gary" in the tapes is no other than the (former) Commissions on Elections officer Virgilio Garcillano. Discussed in the tapes are vote padding and manipulations in the counting , including those on COC's, and the role played by Commission on Elections (COMELEC) officers, National Movement for Free Elections or (NAMFREL), Philippine Army Generals, and "allies" in Congress in defrauding opposition standard bearer FPJ of victory.
Gloriagate No. 2 Delay Senatorial Canvassing
(Conversation between Gary and a female on 11:25 26 May 2004)
Gary: Hello, Ma'am
Female: Hello...,
...Is it possible that there will be a delay in the, the senatorial canvassing until after the voting on the rules tonight?
Gary: On the rules? Ah yes...
Female: ...in the Senate, so there will be no fight. Between two allies, this
...one will of course get mad, the other one, will also get mad for sure...
(line cut)
Gloriagate No. 5 "More Than 1M"
(Conversation between male and female on 29 09:43 hotel 2004)
Female: Hello...
Gary: Hello, Ma'am, good morning again.
Female: Yes, yes.
Gary: OK Ma'am, s/he is higher but will be compensated in Lanao.
Female: So, will I still lead by more than one M., overall?
Gary: Ahh, more or less, it's the advantage Ma'am.
Female: Yes...
Gary: The turnout will appear to be the same. Female: It cannot be less than one M?
Gary: Yes, ma...
...we will try to push that for that. But as of the other day, 902.
Female: Which is why!
Gary: Yes, and then uh, if we can uh, get more in, uh, Lanao...
Female: Is it not yet done? Gary: Yes, not yet supposedly...
...there are still, uhh, the...
...to arrive sev... seven municipalities.
Female: Ah ok, yes, yes...
Gary: Alright
Female: OK, OK, yes, ...OK...
Gloriagate No. 7 Made to Cheat
(Conversation between Gary and One unidentified female believed to be PGMA on 29 1400hrs. May 2004)
Gary: Hello ma'am,
Good afternoon...
PGMA: Yes, yes...
PGMA: According to the other camp, they are planning among themselves (that) they say They are said to have affidavits in their possession--
--from teachers and Board of Canvassers (saying) that they witnessed and were made to cheat.
Gary: I do not have...
where could they have...?
that one earlier, what you mentioned on Pangutaran, it's like this:
it's true that, uh, that what appeared there, FPJ was reversed
...but the canvassing in the province...
...the results--what were put down were also the original - the original results were also the ones put down because of the words and figures were not changed.
PGMA: Mmmm, mmmm.
Gary: It is because they - Gen. Abahacon, is not yet an expert in such a thing, partly they're the ones who did there
PGMA: Mmmm
Gary: uh...The election officer of that, of Pangutaran explained to me also, uh...
PGMA: Mmmm.
Gary:But in the canvass, the Provincial Board of Canvassers said, what was done…but in the canvass, what were instructed by the Provincial Board of Canvassers, were the ones I did ...also his/her original votes, which were counted so there is nothing more...
(line cut).
Gloriagate No. 08 The Addition
(Conversation between Gary and an unidentified female... believed to be... PGMA on 31, 23:17 hotel May 2004)
Gary: Hello, Ma'am.
PGMA: Hello, also the what, the other camp, th...
...they're trying to get their NAMFREL copies of the Municipal COCs.
Gary: From NAMFREL ?
NAMFREL copies ho?
PGMA: Uh-uh
Gary: Ah, there is no more Ma'am, the NAMFREL is OK towards us,
...they are now sympathetic to us...
PGMA: Yes, yes but with this information, does NAMREL match our tally?
Gary: Yes.
PGMA: But that is that... ...the addition, the addition...
Gary: Yes, we, uhh,
...will get in advance uh, our personal copy if that's why they
GMA: Yes, yes, yes.
Gary: OK...
...alright, Ma'am.
Gloriagate No. 13 Maguindanao
(Conversation between PGMA and Gary on 06 1900 hours June '04)
PGMA: Hello.
Gary: Hello Ma'am,
Good evening.
You called?
PGMA: Yes...
...yes. According to Teng, it should perhaps be best if we can ensure that the documents in Maguindanao are consistent.
Gary: Yes, Ma'am. Uhh...yung uh, that...
...it is not really so much of a problem in Maguindanao...
...uh, but what was it that you texted last night as to the presence of uh...fake uh... precincts and I'm supposed to be the mastermind?
PGMA: Yes, yes...
Gary: But Ma'am what Ma'am.. I can't understand what, uh they are trying to drive at... when, uh... 120 days before elections the precincts were already established.
PGMA Ah OK, OK
Gary: Yes.
PGMA: Perhaps what, maybe it is just one shot in the dark. But I'm just letting you know everything I find out so we can always make uh...
...the appropriate remedies, o, yes?
Gary: Yes.
PGMA: OK.
Gary: Uh, General uh, Lomibao is already in Zamboanga...
PGMA: Yes, yes.
Gary: You can tell all the people uh, around us uh, talk to him...
...so that (will be able) uh, they will be able to prevent who is going to work.
PGMA: OK, ok...
...ok, alright. Thank you.
The tapes--and transcripts--speak for themselves. The role of Congress in the cheating or cover-up during the 2004 presidential elections is suggested, if not revealed in the tapes. In Gloriagate tape # 2, Arroyo asks to delay the senatorial canvassing "until after the voting on the rules." Tape # 7 contains the discussion between Arroyo and Garcillano regarding how an instance of the doctoring of votes was not realized at the level of provincial COCs because "the words and figures were not changed" by a General who was "not yet expert" in cheating. Juxtaposing this "Hello Garci" information with how the Joint Congressional Committee blocked the opening of the contested provincial COCs back in 2004, the sinister role played by decadent members of Congress in proclaiming a fraudulent Philippine President becomes clear.
It has been four, tumultuous and corrupt-laden years since the stealth 2004 proclamation of the bogus 14th President of the Philippine Republic. A master of patronage politics, Arroyo has weathered the storms brought about by her illegitimate mandate "not once," but many times over. In fact, she has survived the public outcry that followed the disclosure of the wiretapped conversations, although the disgust over Arroyo's continued illegitimate hold on power is far from over.
Today, June 30, 2008 is actually the fourth anniversary of the proclamation of the 2004 bogus Philippine President. I have decided to give her this Hello Garci "relived" article as reminder that she will always be the Fake and Bogus occupant of Malacanang to the majority of the Filipino people.
