Doble implicates Arroyo ‘aide’ in ‘Hello, Garci’ row cover-up

(Update 11:58 p.m.) Former military intelligence agent Vidal Doble on Friday said that in June 2005, a certain “Medy" – supposedly a personal secretary of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo – had offered to “help" him if he did not testify on the "Hello, Garci" wiretapping controversy. As this developed, pro-administration senators slammed the inquiry as “a waste of time." Doble, a former Air Force technical sergeant, told the three Senate committees investigating the "Hello, Garci" scandal that he met Medy in the quarters of then Armed Forces chief General Efren Abu in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, where he was reunited with his wife and two children. "My wife Arlene told me that Medy is a secretary of President Arroyo. Medy said that in case of any problem, we can approach her. She told Arlene she will help her if I don't testify," Doble said in Filipino. Senator Panfilo Lacson, during his questioning of Doble, said Medy is Remedios Poblador, supposedly an undersecretary with Malacañang's Legislative Liaison Office. "I did a little background investigation and research and I found she is the personal confidante of PGMA (Arroyo). Information has it that there are only two persons personally allowed by PGMA to ride in her car, Lupita Kashiwahara and Poblador," Lacson said. The Office of the President website listed a “Remedios L. Poblador" as Assistant Secretary under “Private Offices Malacañang Palace." GMANews.TV called up the telephone number listed next to Poblador's name and a woman who identified herself as a janitress said it was the presidential legislative liaison office (PLLO) in the Senate. She said the PLLO-Senate staff were not there because it was a Friday, typically a nonworking day in the Senate, although three Senate panels were holding a hearing on the "Hello, Garci" scandal that day. Doble described "Medy" in their 2005 meeting in Abu's quarters – where his wife Arlene and two children were "detained" – as wearing rubber shoes, T-shirt and denim pants He added that he would be able to identify "Medy" if he sees her again. Lacson said a check with Blue Ribbon committee chairman, Sen. Alan Cayetano, then Taguig-Pateros Representative, showed that Poblador was not seen performing her duties at the House of Representatives despite being part of the Palace's legislative liaison office. As this developed, Doble said he turned over the tapes of the wiretap recordings to Angelito "Lito" Santiago, an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). Santiago then allegedly passed on the tapes to former NBI deputy director Samuel Ong. Lacson hit for coaching Doble Also Friday, administration senators slammed the alleged “coaching" by colleagues amid glaring “inconsistencies" of the testimony of Doble in the “Hello, Garci" wiretapping inquiry. Sen. Richard Gordon told reporters that Lacson “virtually testified" for Doble when the witness failed to establish the identity of a woman Lacson said was Remedios Poblador. Gordon, head of the committee on electoral reforms and one of the committees conducting the Garci hearing, said: “We don’t want people to say that the one investigating here is also the one answering the questions." “Otherwise, we don’t need Mr. Doble here," Gordon said. Sen. Joker Arroyo also pointed out the “anomaly" of a senator testifying at a Senate hearing on behalf of a witness. “We should set a standard here. Senators can never testify at hearings for the simple reason that we cannot question or cross-examine them" to determine if what they are saying is the truth. During the hearing, Gordon was asking Doble if there are other members of his team who could have given the tapes to other person outside of Isafp. Lacson, before Doble could answer the question, said the former Isafp agent would not know that. This irked Gordon asking Lacson to allow Doble first to answer the question. It was also Lacson who provided information about Poblador after Doble meekly said that he would be able to identify her if he could see her again. ’Doble’s hearsay’ Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, another Palace ally, said Doble’s testimony was not “double hearsay but Doble’s hearsay." Enrile cited Doble’s testimony before the Court of Appeals that he chose to stay at the Isafp compound because he was afraid of Ong. Now, Enrile pointed out, Doble had stayed at Isafp headquarters against his will. “Ibig sabihin, nagsinungaling ka (This means you lied)," Enrile said. But Doble said his statement before the CA, during the habeas corpus petition filed by his girlfriend Marietta Santos, was what his superiors wanted him to say. “I was with Isafp then and they (superiors) were holding my family," Doble said, implying that he made his statement then “under duress." Arroyo further refreshed Doble’s memory on his testimony before the House of Representatives during the last Congress. He said Doble was contradicting because he had claimed in his sworn testimony that he was not involved in wiretapping. “But now he was saying that he along with several agents of Isafp, had wiretapped several prominent personalities," Arroyo said. “In several counts, Doble perjured," Gordon said. - GMANews.TV