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Valdoria, John Pj

BS MexE - 1102

Hello Garci scandal

Published January 25, 2008 6:29pm

"Hello Garci" refers to the alleged wiretapped conversations where vote rigging in the 2004 elections
was discussed by, among others, a woman presumed to be President Arroyo and man presumed to be
Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Ironically, the controversy that nearly toppled the Arroyo administration started at the Palace, when
Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye released CDs of the Hello Garci conversations on June 6, 2005.
Days later, former NBI Deputy Director Samuel Ong presented what he claims to be the "mother of all
tapes" of the wiretapped conversations.

The revelation spawned House and Senate investigations, as well as calls for President Arroyo's
resignation.

The President was steadfast in her refusal to step down. She admitted talking to a COMELEC official
during the canvassing period and apologized for her "lapse in judgment" in making such a call. However,
she qualified that the conversations occurred after the votes had been counted, and she was careful not
to name the Comelec official.

Garcillano's whereabouts became unknown after the Hello Garci CDs came out; there had been rumors
that he slipped out of the country. He resurfaced more than five months later, admitting that he had
conversed with President Arroyo during the canvassing period--after the votes had been counted. He
denied that President Arroyo instructed him to cheat in the 2004 elections. He had since appeared in
House hearings on the wiretapping controversy.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/content/27477/hello-garci-scandal/story/

Hello Garci, 10 years later: Never again

Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) - May 29, 2014 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Grace Poe yesterday vowed anew to work for electoral reforms in the
country 10 years after the Hello, Garci wiretap controversy in connection with the 2004 elections where
her father, the late action star Fernando Poe Jr., lost allegedly because of poll fraud.

It was a flashback to 2004 when Poe presented to her colleagues a video that aired the controversial
phone conversation between election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and a woman said to be former
president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Arroyos voice was distinct in the tapes, where she supposedly directed Garcillano to give her a one-
million margin to ensure victory against the late action star, popularly known by his initials FPJ.

Sen. Loren Legarda, who was FPJs vice presidential candidate in the 2004 elections, took the floor and
recalled how she struggled after losing against fellow broadcaster Noli de Castro.

Sen. Vicente Sotto III, one of FPJs campaign managers, also spoke about the late actor’s ways and
demeanor during the campaign period.

Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara recalled he was with FPJs ticket when he first ran as congressman for Aurora
province.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, the son of Poe’s best friend Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, also had good words for
the late action star.

Sen. Aquilino Koko Pimentel III, for his part, discussed how one should vigorously fight for justice, citing
his case where he was cheated but won back his seat after a long-drawn out election protest.

Electoral reforms

In a privilege speech, Poe sought her colleagues support in passing measures that would address the
new dynamics of automated elections and reformulate outdated laws.

Poe said this could only be achieved by creating a new set of penalties for computer-aided, technology-
driven election offenses.

We need to prevent high-tech election fraud from making a mockery of our electoral system, she said.

The Senate probed the controversy but only after FPJ had died.

Former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong had exposed the election fraud on
June 10, 2005 by claiming he possessed the original tapes of the wiretapped conversations between
Arroyo and Garcillano.

In our country many wrong-doers do not get punished while good people are made to suffer when they
come out and speak the truth, said Poe, who topped the Senate race last year.

We all know what happened to Arroyo and her cohorts. But almost all those who were involved in the
˜Hello, Garci tapes have not been charged to date, much less spent a single night in jail, she said.

Poe said some of the major players in the controversy are still in government.

Whatever happened to these individuals who figured in the Hello, Garci scandal, she asked.

Poe referred to Garcillano, former elections chief Benjamin Abalos Sr.; election officers Lintang Bedol;
Rey Sumalipao and former presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

Poe also wanted to know what happened to the people who risked their lives, their families and careers
to speak the truth, referring to retired general Francisco Gudani, military intelligence agent Sgt. Vidal
Doble and Michaelangelo Zuce.

Gudani was the head of Task Force Lanao who was replaced during the elections. Vidal, on the other
hand, was the military intelligence agent who leaked the wiretap tapes, while Zuce is Garcillanos
nephew who testified on the alleged payoffs he made.

Poe also mentioned Abdullah Daligdig, the election watchdog official who exposed the discrepancies of
the elections results in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao where in some areas, Poe
supposedly got zero votes.

Ong, the NBI deputy director who exposed the Garci tapes to the media, was charged with sedition
under the Arroyo administration. He died on May 24, 2009.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/05/29/1328562/hello-garci10-years-later-never-again

WHAT WENT BEFORE: ‘Hello Garci scandal’ investigation

Philippine Daily Inquirer / 03:27 AM July 22, 2011


On June 6, 2005, in an attempt to preempt the opposition, then Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye played to
reporters two CDs of purported bugged conversations between then Election Commissioner Virgilio
Garcillano and then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In the conversations, the voice of a woman, said to be Arroyo, could be heard asking a person on the other
line to protect her purported lead of 1 million votes against her closest rival, popular movie actor
Fernando Poe Jr.

Bunye claimed that the tape was “doctored.”

The next day, opposition lawyer Alan Paguia released his own two tapes of the supposed conversations.
He later said he got them from former Sen. Francisco Tatad, who said these were mailed to him.

On June 10, 2005, former National Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Samuel Ong claimed he had
the “mother of all tapes” that would implicate Arroyo. He said he got the material from T/Sgt Vidal
Doble, a friend at the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp), which later
denied it was engaged in wiretapping.

Doble denied that Ong’s tapes came from him but said that he appeared in a scripted videotaped
“authentication” of the wiretaps after he and his family were threatened and later received P2 million for
the effort. Doble said the money came from Laarni Enriquez, mistress of former President Joseph Estrada.
Enriquez denied this.

The justice department slapped Ong with illegal detention charges in connection with the videotaping,
which were later dismissed. Ong died of lung cancer in May 2009.

On June 21, 2005, the House of Representatives opened inquiries into the wiretapping and played the
tapes.

On June 27, 2005, Arroyo in a televised address admitted hers was the voice caught in the wiretaps and
said, “I am sorry.” She did not identify the person on the other end of the line and said she was just
anxious to protect her votes. “I recognize that making any such call was a lapse in judgment,” she said

In August of that year, then Environment Secretary Mike Defensor said that US forensic audio expert
Barry Dickey had found anomalies in the portions of the Paguia tapes. Dickey later clarified that not just
one device was used to record the two tracks, but that he never said the Garci tape was spliced.

In December, Garcillano testified in the House hearing that he talked with Arroyo during the canvassing
but claimed there was no mention of protecting votes. He declined to authenticate the tape.

In January 2006, the House inquiry was concluded without resolving the issue—a failure blamed on
Arroyo’s order in September 2005 barring officials from testifying in congressional hearings without her
permission.

In its report in February 2006, the House said: “The question of authenticity can only be answered when
the person or entity responsible for the alleged wiretaps admits to the act … or when the persons who
engaged in the conversations admit to them, as the President may have done in her public

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/27379/what-went-before-%E2%80%98hello-garci-scandal%E2%80%99-
investigation

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