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Hello Garci scandal

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Politics and government

   Image:Ignacio bunye.jpg
   The crisis first became public on June 6, 2005 with the press
   conference held by Presidential Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye. Here he
   is pictured showing CDs containing wiretapped conversations.

   The Hello Garci scandal (2005—present) (or just Hello Garci) is a
   political scandal and electoral crisis in the Philippines.

   The scandal involves incumbent president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who
   allegedly rigged the 2004 national election in her favour. The official
   results of that election gave Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Noli de
   Castro the presidency and vice-presidency, respectively. Hundreds of
   national and local positions were also contested during this election.
   The scandal and crisis began in June 2005 when audio recordings were
   released. This escalated, when a minority of the lower house of
   Congress attempted to subject Arroyo in an impeachment trial. This was
   blocked by Arroyo's coalition allies in September 2005. No trial has
   taken place thus far.

   Allegations against Arroyo and her accomplices in government are many,
   including electoral fraud and a subsequent cover-up. The administration
   has denied some of the allegations and challenged others in court. The
   House of Representatives, which is dominated by Arroyo's coalition
   allies, denied attempts for an impeachment trial. Arroyo's most
   well-known alleged accomplice from the electoral commission, Virgilio
   Garcillano, was missing for a few months, but has returned to the
   capital in late 2005. Allegations persist regarding possible
   conspirators from the government who helped in his escape, and another
   alleged cover-up. Garcillano denied any wrongdoing, before his
   disappearance, and after his return.

Events history

   Samuel Ong, a former deputy director of the country's National Bureau
   of Investigation (NBI), declared in a June 10 press conference that he
   possessed original recordings of a wiretapped conversation between
   Arroyo and an official of the Commission on Elections, who was alleged
   to be Virgilio Garcillano. In the following weeks, the media analyzed
   contents of the tapes. The Ong recordings allegedly proved that Arroyo
   rigged the 2004 national election to maintain her presidency and the
   political success of her allies. Arroyo denied the accusations of
   election rigging in a television broadcast on June 27, but acknowledged
   that it was her voice on the tape. Protests occurred frequently during
   the crisis either in favour or against Arroyo and her administration.
   Attempts to impeach Arroyo failed on September 6.

Public opinion

   During the scandal, various polls and surveys conducted by Social
   Weather Stations, CNN/ Time, and Pulse Asia measured public opinion
   regarding the allegations and other related issues.

   According to a CNN/Time poll, 57.5 percent of the people surveyed said
   that Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should not finish her
   term. . A Pulse Asia survey released on Philippine news on July 12
   showed that 57% of the people wanted incumbent president Gloria
   Macapagal-Arroyo to resign from office.

Evidence

Ong recordings

   Two recordings were presented to the public: the Ong recordings and the
   government endorsed version of the recordings. Uncut copies of the Ong
   recordings managed to become widespread. The first recordings to be
   released to the press were used in the Congressional inquiry on the
   crisis. The second set of recordings, described by the government as
   the original, was more easily accessible in the Philippines as the
   government did not restrict the media from airing it. However, the
   media aired both sets, focusing on the Ong recordings. A transcript is
   available here, but its lack of government censorship has yet to be
   determined.

   Shortly after the scandal broke, Randy David, a nonpartisan columnist
   of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, cited two excerpts from the Ong
   recording in an article. Sheila Coronel, of the Philippine Centre of
   Investigative Journalism, was able to decipher some of the garbled
   parts of the tape, which allegedly implicated Arroyo in the scandal.
   David analyzed the tapes using ethnomethodology and came to the same
   conclusions as did Coronel. His analysis described one of the speakers
   as a female coming across as a person speaking to her subordinate.
   Later, Arroyo acknowledged that it was her voice on the recording.
   However, no trial took place regarding Arroyo's intentions with her
   conversations in the recordings. According to Philippine law, both
   recordings are part of the public domain and are freely distributable.

   In his editorial on June 12, 2005 for the Philippine Daily Inquirer ,
   Randy David said,

          "On the surface it does look like an innocent exchange. The key
          word here is "nagco-correspond"-a gloss that refers to the
          practice of fixing canvass results at, say, the provincial level
          so that they are not at variance with precinct election returns
          or statement of votes for municipalities. The other gloss is the
          question "Kumpleto?" This is not a harmless inquiry. Given the
          kind of response it elicits, it is an urgent demand to make sure
          the doctoring is done with care".

   David described Arroyo's subordinate as a "man...not in the business of
   counting votes; he produces them."

   Sheila Coronel, described not only electoral fraud, but also the
   involvement of the independent watchdog group Namfrel. In her analysis,
   Coronel alleged that corruption was clearly evident. She also commented
   on the garbled portions of the tape, which were digitally enhanced for
   clarity. . Allegedly, Arroyo whispered "Yung dagdag, yung dagdag" ("The
   addition, the addition"), implying fraud and mentioned Namfrel's
   sympathy for her. In her blog, she said,

          "The conversations, after all, provide damning proof that
          Garcillano was, in the words of a Comelec official, “the plotter
          for electoral fraud, the overall supervisor and commander in
          chief” of the manipulation of the count in favour of the
          administration. The recording points to systemic and
          institutional fraud perpetrated by the Comelec. Does this mean
          that the President, by confirming her phone calls to the
          commissioner, also provided, albeit indirectly, a virtual
          confirmation of the fraud?"

Other evidence

   After the Ong allegations surfaced, many others also claimed to have
   evidence of cheating by the Arroyo administration; however some of
   those facing the additional allegations have not been given opportunity
   to provide solid evidence. Rashma Hali, an electoral official from
   Basilan, who can claims that Arroyo is related to a kidnapping
   operation. Michael Zuce claimed that he was present in an incident
   where Arroyo allegedly bribed officials from the Commission on
   Elections. Retired general Francisco Gudani claimed that he can prove
   military involvement in Arroyo's alleged acts of electoral fraud.
   Roberto Verzola, leader of the Philippine Greens and an IT expert, also
   claimed that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cheated and the citizens' election
   watchdog, National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) was also
   involved. Jay Carizo, from the Institute for Popular Democracy,
   developed the election cheating indicators. Other sources claimed fraud
   in several other government positions, as well as the murder of
   political opponents by incumbents. There were also eyewitness claims as
   well. Loren Legarda-Leviste also claimed that she had evidence of being
   cheated by Noli de Castro also won the vice presidency, in 2004.

Fraud techniques

   Electoral fraud in the country was usually done by manipulating the
   ballots. However, a new technique has arisen which just involves the
   manipulating the election return or ER, which is a summary of the votes
   in precincts. Evidence exist showing that the 32,000 sets of
   overprinted ERs of the Commission of Elections could manipulate an
   election by as much as three million votes. Such number of votes could
   change a result.

Pop culture

Humor

   There is also the wide spread use of a portion of the contents in Ong
   tapes as a mobile phone ring tone. The ring tone starts with Hello,
   Garci? Hello Ma'am. This is common among the youth, especially with the
   start of the new school year in June. It became one of the world's most
   downloaded ring tones. There are also more various varieties of ring
   tones derived from the wiretapped conversation aside from the original
   ring tone.

Partisan propaganda

   A poster of President Arroyo being Valentina, a villain of the popular
   television series Darna, was in circulation. It is entitled "President
   Evil", alluding to the popular film and video game series Resident
   Evil. Another poster depicts a fictional film as it was called
   "Destabilisasyon: Ang Pagbabalik ni Asyong Salonga." (translated as
   Destabilisation: The Return of Asyong Salonga) The poster depicts the
   following people as its characters, Joseph Estrada, Laarni Enriquez,
   Samuel Ong, Sandra Cam, and Francis Escudero. These people are either
   opposition leaders and political opponents, or for Ong and Cam,
   whistleblowers. The two posters are definitely partisan either in
   favour or against Arroyo, and as propaganda, uses pop culture in aiding
   the cause of one side. And just recently, Arroyo's name in some
   Philippine 100-peso bills was changed to "arrovo" which can be roughly
   translated to "thief". The words "robo" and "dorobou" are the Spanish
   and Japanese terms for "robber" respectively.

Issues

Accountability and legitimacy

   The evidence carried with it great consequences. The Ong tape were
   neutrally authenticated by foreign companies Uniquest (Australia) and
   Voice Identification (United States). Also, Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio
   Bunye, as well as the president herself, acknowledged that it was
   indeed Arroyo's voice. The protesting public insisted that the tapes
   and CDs proved electoral fraud, and that Arroyo cheated and rigged the
   2004 elections. A sizable number of people wanted the results of the
   2004 elections to be made invalid. The Supreme Court withheld judgment
   on the matter, refraining from actions toward invalidating the
   election. The administration said the Ong recordings were inadmissible
   in court, since the audio was taped without consent.

   Initially, there were two possible outcomes for the government; Arroyo
   could have either resigned or be ousted through a constitutionally
   accepted process. These actions could only take place after addressing
   the current state of the faulty electoral system. The other outcome was
   for Arroyo to be cleared of any wrong doing. Neither outcome occurred,
   and hence no final course of action was taken to resolve Arroyo's
   legitimacy or to prevent electoral fraud. Those unrealized possible
   outcomes could have resolved definitely the legitimacy issue, and could
   have made Arroyo accountable for any wrongdoing. However, Philippine
   law and the country's flawed electoral rules complicate the legitimacy
   and accountability problem. The law only mentions impeachment followed
   with a conviction as a possible way of removing certain serving
   legitimate government officials. The law however is unclear on how to
   prosecute and convict the sitting official if illegitimacy is the
   problem, due to allegations of vote rigging. Conrado de Quiros, a
   strong advocate of electoral reforms, argues that a special
   presidential election must be done in coinciding with midterm elections
   to resolve legitimacy

          "It is not enough that the elections next year [2007 midterm
          elections] be turned into a referendum on Arroyo, it is
          imperative that the elections next year be turned into an
          occasion to vote for a real president."

          "At the very least, a loud and universal call for special
          presidential elections next year will let it be known that we
          are serious about doing something about screwing the voters. No,
          more than that, about the deceitfulness and lying that are
          spreading everywhere in this country faster than karaoke. In the
          end, none of the safeguards against cheating will matter if
          there is no public vigilance against the threat and no outrage
          against the commission."

   Whether the special presidential elections occurs or not, a significant
   number of incumbent politicians who are allied with administration and
   who were elected during the tainted 2004 elections may be deposed by
   voter backlash in the upcoming 2007 midterm elections, assuming the
   election to be free and fair. The electorate would use the upcoming
   election as a referendum on accountability and legitimacy for Arroyo
   and her political supporters. All of the seats of Arroyo's supporters
   in the House of Representatives, half of the Senate, and all local
   government positions are to contested.

Electoral system

   The Philippines, according to experts, has a reputation for having
   political issues based on patronage politics and personality politics.
   To some experts, what is unique about the crisis is that it addresses
   the greater issue of electoral fraud and an allegedly faulty election
   system that allows cheaters to win and get away with it. This is
   manifested in a humorous local saying that, "There are two types of
   people in elections. Those who win and those who get cheated out of
   office." Politically outspoken student groups mention that this is
   rather new for Philippine politics, and shows a gradual development of
   the voting public, the electorate.

   According to pundits, the past 60 years of the Philippine history
   already has a reputation of electoral fraud, proven or otherwise. It is
   just that no one ever gets caught or punished. Analysts assert that the
   people have always been desensitized to their politicians cheating
   during elections. Accordingly, people generally doubt their leaders'
   mandates. The people are often suspicious of the winners, especially in
   close poll results, but do nothing. Constituents generally allow their
   leaders, assuming proven acts of cheating, to get away with it until
   the scandal erupted. Roberto Verzola supports punishing candidates
   guilty of fraud as the first step for electoral reforms. He said that,
   "the system can be slow or fast but there will still be cheating unless
   you punish the cheats." The reforms sought for the electoral system are
   still clouded with uncertainty.

Attempts for an impeachment trial

   On June 27, human rights lawyer Oliver Lozano filed an impeachment case
   against Arroyo on the grounds of "betrayal of public trust". Ten
   minutes later, Jose Rizaldo P. Lopez, a private citizen, filed a
   similar impeachment complaint. The mainstream pro-impeachment bloc in
   Congress advocated an amended version of the Lozano complaint.

   On August 23, the justice committee delayed a vote on the impeachment
   complaints, instead focusing on a vote on procedures. The committee
   eventually sent Report 1012 to the rest of the House of
   Representatives. The report suggested that impeachment proceedings
   should cease altogether. Both chambers of Congress and the justice
   committee are dominated by Arroyo's coalition allies.

   On September 6, the minority could not garner the 79 signatures to send
   the amended impeachment complaint to the Senate. A vote of Report 1012
   commenced in favour of the report. Impeachment proceedings ceased,
   preventing a trial for Arroyo for at least one year.

   The following year in January 16, Lozano re-filed the amended
   impeachment complaint. However, this came with stiff opposition from
   opposition members in the House, most notably House Minority Leader
   Francis Escudero, who threatened him with a complaint with the
   Integrated Bar of the Philippines. This was after the opposition claims
   they plan to file a stronger complaint, calling Lozano's tactics
   "illegal and unethical", especially because the opposition did not
   consent to the filing of the complaint. In June, one whole year after
   the beginning of the scandal, several impeachment complaints were also
   filed by different groups.

Aftermath

   After the failure of impeachment, a broad coalition of protesters
   engaged the government in peaceful protest for several days, which was
   reminiscent of the People Power Revolution of 1986. Some of those
   protesters included former president Corazon Aquino and former vice
   president Teofisto Guingona. Due to the lack of protesters that took
   part in common venues, the government's hard line approach in
   regulating traditional protesting venues in Mendiola and EDSA, and
   other factors, the protests did not affect the outcome in Congress.
   Thus, its power soon diminished. Lingering protests remain, accompanied
   by a campaign to present evidence directly to the electorate, since
   such evidence were restricted from use in trial. Arroyo eventually
   pressed on with certain reforms, albeit unrelated to the crisis, that
   included new taxes that will shrink government's fiscal deficit. The
   economy has been described as resilient, especially since it's recovery
   was not affected by the scandal. Despite Arroyo's preservation of her
   hold onto authority, and a resilient economy, most analysts agree that
   the scandal has failed to address its root causes - pervasive electoral
   fraud conducted by candidates during elections, the faulty electoral
   system, and the Commission on Elections that encourages fraud.
   Accordingly, confidence in Arroyo has declined as explained by Amando
   Doronila of the Philippine Daily Inquirer who said .

          "The quashing of the complaints is an empty victory for the
          administration. It merely demonstrated that the administration
          has the capacity to deploy the advantages of incumbency to save
          the president from being unseated. Until the president stands
          trial where she can defend herself and where it can be shown
          that the accusations are false and do not constitute impeachable
          offenses, it would be hard for her to regain public confidence
          and reestablish the legitimacy of her government."

   The crisis has arguably ended with the failure of both the impeachment
   process and the people power movement to have Arroyo face a public
   trial. However the scandal persists, with the electoral fraud issue
   still unresolved. This is a factor that led to the use of emergency
   powers by Arroyo in early 2006.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Garci_scandal"
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