GMA poll fraud proof bared on taped calls
PALACE CRIES ‘DESTABILIZATION,’ LINKS US GOVERNMENT
By Sherwin C. Olaes and Michaela P. del Callar
Monday, 06 06, 2005
Panicking at the alleged discovery of a taped conversation between President Arroyo and a still to be identified Commision on Elections (Comelec) commissioner to ensure her victory at the May polls through massive fraud and blatantly cheating opposition standard- bearer Fernando Poe Jr. out of his rightful seat in Malacañang, the Palace yesterday preempted the baring of the taped conversation by announcing publicly the existence of the tape, and quickly moved to involve the US government by claiming that the opposition is bandying the story of the US government having been the source of the tape.
But the US Embassy spokesman yesterday denied any involvement in, or the tapping of a conversation last year between the President and a Comelec commissioner while reportedly discussing a strategy to be employed in cheating FPJ at the polls.
Embassy spokesman Karen Kelley said the embassy does not engage in such activities as Palace reports earlier suggested.
“I don't know (how) we have been wrapped up on this. We have not recorded any conversation. We are not involved,” Kelley told the Tribune in an interview.
Kelley noted that the US embassy does not interfere in the internal and political affairs of the Philippines, suggesting that this latest scandal involving Mrs. Arroyo was an internal affair that is best decided on by the Filipino people.
While she admitted that the embassy is aware of the report, she said this was dismissed as plain “rumors.”
“I heard about it last night. Some people are claiming they got it from a US Embassay source, but we are not involved in this act at all. We don't have a role in this,” Kelley said.
A reliable Palace source told the Tribune yesterday that Malacañang, in an emergency crisis committee Saturday night, decided to implicate the US government in Manila, to force it to declare support for her, in the alleged destabilization plot.
But former Sen. Franciso Tatad said the Palace move was an obvious effort to steal the thunder from the opposition, disclosing that Malacañang has started a “text campaign” claiming that the opposition would soon present a tape recording of questionable origin containing “manufactured conversations” between Mrs. Arroyo and some Comelec officials during the last elections. Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye was reported to have attributed the source of the evidence to the US Embassy.
Tatad said this was “completely irresponsible.” He assured Malacañang that “if the opposition decides to present any tape recording of Mrs. Arroyo's crimes, they would have witnesses to authenticate the material, or be ready to submit the same for independent verification.”
Preempting the opposition's move, Bunye said such conversation never took place and that there was no instruction from Mrs. Arroyo to the Comelec to cheat in the elections.
Bunye also said this is another demolition job against the President, whose family is being implicated in the illegal numbers game scandal.
Mrs. Arroyo, whose presidency remains in question until now, won over Poe last year by a slim margin.
The opposition alleged that Poe was a victim of vote-padding and shaving (dagdag-bawas) as reflected in the election returns that were altered, distorted and manipulated to favor the President.
Earlier, In two radio interviews over RMN News Manila and dzBB, the presidential spokesman bared the alleged plot of the opposition to expose a “tapped' phone conversation of Mrs. Arroyo and the Comelec official.
Bunye said the exposé would come in VCD form and would be bared to the public either today or the next day.
“Intelligence reports reaching the Palace point to another desperate plot of some segments of the opposition to smear and destabilize the administration via a so-called taped conversation between the President and a certain Comelec Commissioner plotting election fraud,” he said.
Palace sources who requested not to be identified said the President had an emergency meeting with her key officials in the Cabinet a the poll fraud tape issue Saturday evening but refused to divulge the identities of the personalities who attended the “emergency” meeting.
“The President was infuriated about the coming exposé but the US Embassy (in Manila) had already denied any involvement,” the source said.
Bunye confirmed the President and her aides have received intelligence reports of the opposition's alleged plot, which was why they immediately contacted unnamed officials in the US Embassy in Manila, which has denied any involvement.
“We personally talked to certain officials in the US Embassy yesterday (Saturday) and they told me there is no such thing. It is not in their program to destabilize a certain friendly country...Obviously, this new story about election fraud is a pure concoction,” he said.
Bunye said the same reports proffer a wild story that the tape came from US government sources, thereby suggesting some kind of official US involvement in a plot to oust Mrs. Arroyo from power.
“This new story about election fraud is a canard and even the American Embassy in Manila has dismissed the allegations of US Government involvement as false,” he said.
Bunye, however, refused to name certain members of the opposition who would orchestrate the “latest” destabilization move but stressed that the group is already prepared and would come out soon in a press conference to discredit the President before the Filipino people.
“This would come out within the next few days. We would see then who from the opposition would spearhead this, once the press conference pushes through,” he said.
Bunye admitted Malacañang decided to “preempt” the exposé of the opposition, believing the taped conversation would be bared to the public.
“We cannot be sure if our preemptive move would stop them. What we know is that this certain group would not stop and do everything to destabilize our administration,” he said.
It was unclear why an exposé of an alleged taped conversation between then candidate Arroyo and a Comelec official is considered by the Palace as a destabilization plot, especially if this is accurate and true.
Committing election fraud is a criminal offense, and even if the opposition does expose this tape to the public, its baring is not a criminal offense.
But Bunye claimed the opposition is using the US as its “source' which already shows that the exposé “lacks credibility.”
“Let us wait and see. What's funny here is that they (opposition) don't have credible local sources that's why they're getting the US government into their mess,” Bunye said.
But it was also clear that the reports of the US' alleged involvement came, not from the opposition but from Malacañang.
Bunye said the US allegedly exposed this because it was infuriated at Mrs. Arroyo's personal dealings with the Chinese government.
“They (opposition) would show that the reason the US government exposed this was that they (US) don't like the way Mrs. Arroyo handles the China policy. That's their scenario so if we do not seriously scrutinize the facts, the public can be misled and will easily believe them (opposition),” he said.
“We should not believe them (opposition) especially now that they are dragging the US government here in their mess,” he added.
Bunye blamed the opposition, saying, “well, here in our local politics they cannot really accept the fact that they (opposition) lost in the last elections. In every election here in our country it's normal for both the winning candidate and as well as the losing candidate to claim that they both won the election and whoever loses claims he was cheated. So that's their style, and they cannot accept the fact. We're just hoping that this (exposé) would not prosper,” he said.
“But we are no longer surprised at the depths of despair that some opposition members can reach, considering the failed jueteng caper against the First Family,” he said.
Bunye said before the start of the Senate investigations, the market reacted negatively, anticipating a bombshell. But Bunye claimed that after whistleblower Wildredo “Boy Bicol” Mayor went about his “shotgun testimony, implicating several legislators without proof, the market quickly recovered,” adding that “the Boy Mayor testimony turned out to be ampaw (hollow) and the market saw through the charade. Unfortunately, these allegations are obviously the concoctions of persons motivated only by self-interest. It is unfortunate that our chismis (rumor)-driven culture laps it up as gospel truth,” he said.
Bunye said the coming exposé of the opposition would only take away precious time and attention better spent on solving the many problems that confront us.
“Some people, rather than being part of the solution, are a big part of the problem. Due to purely selfish reasons, these incorrigible destabilizers want the President to fail,” he said.
“They must realize however, that the President's failure would not only be her own, or her family's or her party's. It would be the failure of our entire nation to pick itself up by its bootstraps and catch up with its neighbors,” he said, stressing that “this destabilization moves would not help our government, instead it is creating a downfall to our economy. In the end, its all of us who would suffer,” he added.
Gloria says her heart bleeds for poor Pinoys! - Ha ha ha ha.
Reply With Quote
Posting Permissions
