SC: It's up to media to air 'Hello, Garci' tapes

Published February 15, 2008 2:37pm

The â€˜Hello,Garciâ€™ Scandal "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 a 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 claimed 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. 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. - GMA News Research

The Supreme Court on Friday issued a decision paving the way for the media to air the controversial "Hello, Garci" recordings. "The Supreme Court, with two votes of 10-5 each, has nullified statements of the Secretary of Justice and the National Telecommunications Commission warning the media against the airing of alleged wiretap conversation between the President and some person and has considered them as prior restraint on the exercise of free speech and free expression," court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said. Sitting en banc, the high tribunal nullified an order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Justice department warning media against airing the recordings of alleged wiretapped conversations on a plan to rig the results of the 2004 presidential polls. Marquez said: "In both actions, the court has voted 10-5. I'm saying two votes because the justices have a difference in opinion. The main decision of course is penned by Chief (Reynato) Justice Puno then he was confirmed by nine justices." Marquez said the court is "not saying that you can air or you cannot air." "That is your judgment call if you want to air or you don't want to air. The issues here are the warning issued by the Secretary of Justice," Marquez told reporters Friday. Marquez said the main dissenting opinion was written by Eduardo Antonio Nachura. In June 2005, Francisco Chavez, former solicitor general, asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the warning of the NTC against broadcast media airing the â€œHello, Garci" tapes. The NTC warned that it would impose sanctions, including cancellation of license, against broadcast stations that continue airing the tapes. Marquez earlier said that whatever the ruling would be, the case would serve as precedent in future cases involving prior restraint on media. In his petition for certiorari and prohibition, Chavez assailed the NTC's warning as an "unmistakable restriction on the exercise of free speech and the press." Chavez also questioned Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalezâ€™s threat to file criminal charges in violation of Republic Act 4200 or the Anti-Wire Tapping Act against those found in possession of the â€œGarci" tapes. On June 11, 2005, the NTC warned radio and television companies that if they air the tapes, they would face sanctions. The NTC later on backtracked, and said that the tapes could be aired but with a clarification that the information in the records were unverified. Former T/Sgt Vidal Doble of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAPF), earlier testified before the Senate that in 2004, he participated in the military's wiretapping operations on opposition and administration personalities. Doble said that in one of the ISAFPâ€™s operations, he was stunned to hear President Arroyo calling Garcillano on his cellular phone. In that controversial conversation, the President allegedly told the elections official to make sure that she would have a million vote lead over her closest contender in the 2004 presidential polls, the late opposition bet Fernando Poe Jr. Arroyo, on national television, later on admitted that she talked to an elections official but denied that she ordered the rigging of the polls. She however said she was sorry for what she called a "lapse in judgment." - GMANews

Tags: hellogarci, virgiliogarcillano, hellogarci, virgiliogarcillano, hellogarcitapes