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Election official denies colluding with Arroyo

Posted on: Wednesday, 6 July 2005, 07:31 CDT

By Bill Tarrant

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine election commissioner hasdenied conspiring with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to rigthe 2004 election, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

But with Filipinos engrossed by "Gloriagate," militaryintelligence officials were asked to testify at a congressionalinquiry into taped conversations the opposition says arebetween Arroyo and Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Garcillano, who has been out of public view for weeks, toldthe Philippine Daily Inquirer he had talked to oppositionpoliticians as well as to Arroyo as ballots were being countedin the 2004 election that she won by more than 1 million votes.

Recordings of his conversations with Arroyo, produced byher rivals to bolster their claims of election cheating, hadbeen edited, he said.

"Tell the people that the conversations that have publiclycome out of the tapes are untrue," Garcillano told the paper ina telephone interview.

Weeks of political turmoil, combined with a Supreme Courtfreeze on Friday on one of Arroyo's key economic reforms, haveput a cloud over Philippine financial markets and added topressure on the president to resign.

Arroyo is more unpopular than disgraced predecessor JosephEstrada and almost half of Filipinos think she should quit, asurvey by pollster Pulse Asia showed on Wednesday.

Estrada, a film star turned politician, said on Wednesdayhe was ready to replace Arroyo if she stepped down or wasremoved from office through impeachment or other means.

"Let the people decide," he told reporters while leaving aManila hospital after a two-day check-up. "If the people wouldtake me back, why not?"

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye dismissed the survey,saying there was no reason for Arroyo to be replaced without"irrefutable proof of wrong-doing."

Roilo Golez, head of the defense committee in the lowerhouse of Congress, said the military agents had been invited totestify at the inquiry because their voices were apparentlyheard on the tapes.

The agents had been heard discussing cases of vote-buying,kidnapping and other election irregularities, he said onABS-CBN television. The hearing went into closed session afterone officer raised considerations about national security.

The deepening election scandal reflects an adage ofPhilippine politics: There are no losers, only winners andthose who were cheated.

Arroyo apologized to the nation last week for a "lapse injudgment" for talking to an election official, without namingGarcillano, and said her husband would go into exile to allowher to rule effectively.

MIKE FLIES TO EXILE

On Wednesday, Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo flew to Los Angelesvia Hong Kong.

Arroyo, whose second term ends in 2010, is facing the worstcrisis of her four-year presidency as some of the businessgroups, middle-class professionals and Catholic church leaderswho form her support base begin to pull back.

Filipinos are angry about rising prices and pervasive graftbut seem wary of the economic and social costs of more upheavalafter "people power" uprisings against dictator FerdinandMarcos in 1986 and Estrada in 2001.

There also have been a dozen coup attempts in the last 19years involving members of the military.

Despite opposition attempts to whip up rage against Arroyo,street protests have been relatively small.

Legally ousting her is also problematic.

A second impeachment complaint against the president onTuesday was actually supported by an Arroyo ally, adding tospeculation she aims to blunt opposition attacks by defeatingthe motions through her majorities in both houses of Congress.

Arroyo's rivals also lack a unifying leader and haveoffered few policy alternatives to cut debt and develop theeconomy.

Financial markets steadied on Wednesday, with the pesofirming slightly and stocks virtually unchanged for a secondday after tumbling more than 4 percent on Monday.

"Much bad news has been priced in at this point," said INGBank, adding it was maintaining a buy recommendation onPhilippine sovereign bonds.

(With reporting by John O'Callaghan and Manny Mogato)

Source: REUTERS

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