This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 42, November
27-Dcember 3, 2005
Historic People’s Court
Adjourns
After five sessions, 21 witnesses and more than 20 hours of testimonies, the
Citizens Congress for Truth and Accountability adjourned. The historic
initiative brought to light the evidences that administration allies sought to
keep in the dark with the junking of the impeachment complaint against the
president.
By Lisa Ito After hearing the
testimonies of seventeen witnesses and receiving reams of documentary evidence,
the Citizens Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA) is now entering the
phase where the evidence and testimonies presented will be systematically
compiled, scrutinized, and evaluated in preparation for a final report of the
CCTA findings and recommendations. While the 15-member
Presidium will now be doing its homework, Presidium Chairperson and former
Philippine Vice-President Teofisto Guingona said that the CCTA will be “open to
the possibility of reconvening the Congress when the time comes.” “We are going to adjourn
without prejudice to developments, such as additional evidence that needs to be
strengthened in the pursuit of truth and accountability,” he said. Authentic
The CCTA completed its
sessions last Nov. 9, 15 and 16 on charges of graft and corruption, electoral
fraud, human rights violations, and betrayal of public trust against President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. An extended session was held last Wednesday to
accommodate additional evidence and witnesses. Making it to the last CCTA
session on Nov. 23 at the De La Salle University in Manila was expert witness
and audio recording engineer Jaime Sarthou. He presented his comparative study
on the different 'Hello Garci' tapes, including Sammy Ong’s “mother of all
tapes”, Atty. Alan Paguia’s, Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s, and the two compact discs
(CD) presented by Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye, his “original
untampered” CD and the “tampered” one. Sarthou has worked for 27
years in the recording industry, specializing in functions such as editing,
splicing (cutting out selected portions of a recording and putting it together
as a continuous piece), mixing, recording and production. He publicly released
his findings on the tapes for the first time at the CCTA. Sarthou downloaded the
different “Hello Garci” CDs from websites and procured copies of the other tapes
when they were made available to the public. Using a multi-track recording and
editing software, Sarthou played all versions on separate tracts and played them
all together. Sarthou notes that Ong’s
three-hour “mother of all tapes” and Sen. Lacson’s “authenticated” one
“synchronized as if they were one”. The resulting synchronization indicates they
were authentic, in the sense that these were not tampered with, Sarthou
concludes. Sarthou, however, believes
that the “original” CD presented by Sec. Bunye was tampered. While analyzing the
tapes, Sarthou assumed that the 'original untampered' CD presented by Bunye
would synchronize along with all the other tapes, but instead found jumps and
splices “from beginning to end” he said. He concluded that the CD was
“semi-fabricated”, using GMA’s wiretapped voice spliced with another voice (for
that of “Gari’s”). “It was very sloppily
done,” he noted. In Atty. Paguia’s tape,
Sarthou notes an isolated portion that “jumps” and found out that a portion of
“dead air” or silence was spliced to make the presentation of the tape faster.
“(But) I conclude that what he did was an honest thing,” he commented.
Sarthou explained how he
first became interested in the Garci tapes. “I have an uncle who is a supporter
of PGMA (President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo),” he explained, “That time, he asked
me, if it was possible for me to investigate the Garci tapes and prove they were
fake. I agreed and took the trouble of analyzing the files, but ended up
concluding that they were not fake.” “Tito, I’m sorry, they’re
real,” Sarthou ended up saying instead to his uncle. Garci better not speak
Sarthou emphasized that it
was “virtually impossible for the Garci tapes to be manufactured or produced”.
“If they were manufactured,
it has to be a “work of a genius”. It would take a lot of money, time,
resources, research, a great scriptwriter, etc,” he said. Sarthou believes that the
tapes were indeed wiretapped, with whoever did the wiretapping using a lot of
tapes. “I imagine the [original
recordings] run continuously to hundreds of cassette tapes,” he said. “What’s
left to us are cassette tapes compiled from the original,” he said. When asked by the Presidium
if he can identify whether Garcillano was the other party PGMA was reportedly
talking with on the other end of the line, Sarthou commented, “If (we hear
Garcillano speak), we can identify if it’s his voice or not.” “So he’d better not speak,”
Sarthou quipped. Sarthou was among the audio
experts presented by Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary
Michael Defensor at a press conference last August 12, where sound engineer
Jonathan Tiongco was quoted by the media as saying that he noticed splices and
anomalies in a copy of the “Garci tape” presented to him. Sarthou clarified that he
did not know anything about a press conference under the DENR, recalling that
Tiongco invited him to a meeting that aimed to “submit independent studies and
analysis by a group of experts” on the Garci tapes. Sarthou theorized that the
tape presented to Tiongco for examination was not among the ones he analyzed.
“There were obvious splices
and words not found in the original tape, [like the part where] GMA was asking
if FPJ will win by one million. I never heard that statement in the whole
three-hour tape,” he said. Dagdag-Bawas Meanwhile, expert witness
on information technology, Manuel Alcuaz, Jr. estimated that there was a
probable dagdag-bawas
of 598,560 votes for PGMA in the Mindanao provinces. Alcuaz was the former Chair
of the La Salle Graduate School of Business, and is currently the President of
his own company Systems Technology Research. His study on electoral fraud
focused on provinces in Mindanao because that was where most of the provinces
mentioned in the “Hello Garci” Tapes were. Alcuaz also noted a
discrepancy in a paid advertisement signed by “600 Women for GMA” during the
past months. The 600 women for GMA claim she lost to FPJ in Mindanao, Alcuaz
recounts. While this is corroborated in the NAMFREL count, the final Certificate
of Canvas says that GMA won in Mindanao, Alcuaz observed. Gonzales signed Venable
as PGMA's “alter ego” Also appearing before the
CCTA last November 23 was Jose Anselmo Cadiz, incumbent National President of
the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Cadiz testified to the
illegality and unconstitutionality of National Security Adviser (NSA) Norberto
Gonzales' signing of contract with American law firm Venable LLP last July 25.
Under the contract, Venable
LLP will be paid $75,000 every month and an advance payment for three months of
$225,000 to act as liaison for the Philippine government to the U.S. Congress,
provide information on U.S. policies and likely directions of U.S. federal
legislations and their impact on the Philippines, and identify strategic
planning efforts. Cadiz scored a particular
provision in the Venable contract that assigns it to secure grants and
Congressional earmarks for supporting PGMA’s Charter Change initiative.
The provision, he said, is
both “illegal and unconstitutional”, in violation of Article 9 section C-5 and
the Preamble of the Constitution that states that financial contributions
constitute intervention in national affairs and that the State shall pursue an
independent foreign policy, respectively. “U.S. interference in the
crafting of the basic law of the land,” he said, is a “definite infringement of
national sovereignty” and a “culpable violation of the Constitution”.
“What really is truly
objectionable here is the glaring fact that this government will beg money from
a foreign government to alter the fundamental law of the land,” he said, “I
think that is most reprehensible – begging money to alter the Constitution.”
He argued that Gonzales’
signing of the contract as NSA is tantamount to the Presidential seal of
approval, noting that PGMA has not stated “formally or verbally” that Gonzales
was unauthorized to sign the contract. “It is basic in
Constitutional law that a Cabinet secretary or member is an alter ego of the
President,’ he said. Cadiz also took the
opportunity to underscore the illegality of Executive Order (EO) 464, issued
shortly after Gonzales' appearance at the Senate inquiry on the Venable
contract. Under the EO 464, government employees from the executive branch, from
the highest down to the lowest ranking member can not testify, unless allowed by
the president, at Senate and Congressional investigations. “We believe the EO 464 was
an off-shoot of Mr. Gonzales’ testimony at the Senate,” he added. Cadiz said that the EO 464
”violates the oversight function and the power of the purse” among the three and
co-equal branches of government, limiting the powers of the Senate and
Congress. “(With the EO 464), you
will have a President who will lord it over the nation without any checks and
balances,” he said. 'Palo Massacre' survivor
While the CCTA session last
November 15 specifically presented the charges of nearly five thousand human
rights violations against PGMA, more recent killings have prodded organizers to
present additional witnesses before the body. Lawyer Rachel Pastores
presented Richard Margallo, a survivor of the November 21 massacre in Brgy. San
Agustin, Palo, Leyte and Chairperson of the peasants’ organization San Agustin
Farmer Beneficiaries Multipurpose Cooperative, before the CCTA last November 23
to prove “the continuing violation of human rights of ordinary civilians that
GMA does in pursuit of counter-insurgency operations”. Margallo gave an
eye-witness account
of how military troops opened fire at a congregation of farmers at around 5 a.m.
last Nov. 21. A power point presentation
prepared by the national fact finding mission that looked into the Palo massacre
was also presented before the body. Adjourned without
prejudice After hearing the
testimonies and the summation of presentations and evidences against Macapagal-Arroyo
by the CCTA's lawyer-presenters, Guingona declared the Citizens' Congress
“adjourned without prejudice” and announced that the congress may be reconvened
depending on the developments. He said that the Presidium
would now evaluate and send a copy of the summary of the evidences submitted to
the Citizens Congress to Malacañang, in order to give PGMA the chance to express
their side on the issues raised against her. Guingona added that the Presidium
will continue to finalize their report after the CCTA receives reactions from
Malacañang. “If the Palace (chooses to)
disregard it, we will still proceed,” he added. Guingona said that the CCTA
was historically significant as a citizens' initiative for reform. “This is the
first time that, I think, that the nation has witnessed a citizens' activity of
this magnitude, including Malacañang's tearing of (the CCTA) invitation for them
to participate,” Guingona said. Meanwhile, delegates to the
Citizens Congress expressed support for the proceedings. Former Light Rail Transit (LRT)
union President Sammy Malunes, who represented Anakpawis during the CCTA, said
that, “despite the non-participation of the administration due to their belief
in the CCTA's supposed “non-legality”, the Citizens' Congress has manifested the
values of transparency and people empowerment”. “Pinigil ang
impeachment process
sa
legislative area ng isang Kongreso na
dominado ng mga alyado ni Gng. Arroyo. Dito, nabibigyang-puwang ang isang
Kongreso kung saan makakapagsalita ang mga sektor ng mamamayan,”
(The impeachment process was stopped in a
Congress dominated by the allies of Mrs. Arroyo. Here is a Congress, which gave
the people an opportunity to speak) he said. Welson Paguyo,
representative to the CCTA of the Gloria Step Down Movement chapter in the
National Capital Region (GSM-NCR), described the Citizens Congress as a venue
that challenges other existing venues for justice and public accountability.
“Eroded
ang tiwala ng mamamayan sa ibang
supposedly-democratic processes...
Natutuwa kami dahil wagas ang intensyon nito na
mapapakinggan ang mga gustong marinig na katotohanan ng sambayanan, na taliwas
sa gustong mangyari ng gobyernong
(Arroyo),” (The trust of the people in other supposedly democratic processes
have been eroded… We are glad that the intention of this Congress to listen to
the truth as demanded by the people is genuine, contrary to the intentions of
the Arroyo government) he said.
Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
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