The noose tightens

By: Conrado de Quiros
Philippine Daily Inquirer

That was a very nice riposte Rafael Santiago made when told that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo dismissed his revelations as an “old story.” “Of course, it’s an old story,” he said, “because it was done six years ago. But you know, wala namang baho na hindi lumalabas (You can’t hide anything that stinks).”

It reminds you of what Gregoria de Jesus said when her husband, Andres Bonifacio, was brought to the hills and executed by former friends and allies. The truth will out. No matter how long it takes, no matter how deep it is buried, the truth will out.

Stink has a way of wafting into the public smell even after six years. And this one has a stench that cannot be covered. It might be an old story, but it is one that we are finally hearing from someone who actually witnessed it, who actually participated in it, who actually carried it out. It might as well be a story we are hearing for the first time.

Santiago’s story is that he and his team broke into the Batasan complex in early 2005 to substitute fake ballots, hidden in several Marlboro boxes, for the real ones. Their action was prompted by Susan Roces’ electoral protest and demand to have the votes recounted. To make sure that Arroyo would still win in a recount, government resorted to that move.

Government in particular took the form of then-PNP chief Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., Special Action Force director, Marcelino Franco, Comelec supervisor Roque Bello, his son El Bello, SAF chief of security in the Batasan, Ferdinand Ortega and several others who manufactured the fake ballots. Oppressed by guilt and driven by a need to set things right, Santiago has come out with his story.

What this does is to open the door to voiding the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo forthwith. This “Marlborogate”—and “Hello Garci”—constitutes grounds for doing so. Richard Nixon was impeached for far less, for merely covering up the break-in into Democratic Party headquarters by burglars funded by the Committee to Re-elect the President. This is falsifying election results. Santiago himself suggests the First Gentleman might have been its mastermind, though he won’t say that categorically as he himself has no direct proof of it.

Of course the involvement of Arroyo and husband in “Hello Garci” and “Marlborogate” has yet to be proven. But I don’t know how hard it can be to prove the authenticity of the “Hello Garci” tape—Arroyo cannot hide behind the “poisoned tree” argument, as several people have pointed out, because to claim wiretapping is to admit that one has been wiretapped, and Arroyo has refused to admit that to this day—and the means, opportunity and motive in the Batasan break-in.

To emphasize something of vital importance, the point is not to show that these duplicitous acts affected the results of the 2004 elections, thereby making Arroyo the winner of those elections. If so, then the argument—which you are almost certain to hear in the coming days—is that the Batasan break-in was a minor thing, a lapse of judgment and Arroyo might still have emerged winner even without it. That was the argument that came out in the wake of “Hello Garci.” It was just a lapse of judgment, and Arroyo might still have emerged winner even without it.

The point is to show that these are crimes. Talking to a “Comelec official” in the middle of counting is not a lapse of judgment, it is a crime. Breaking into the Batasan to replace real ballots with fake ones, notwithstanding that the elections took place nearly a year before, is not a lapse of judgment, it is a crime. People who commit crimes are not rewarded, they are punished. People who commit crimes are not sent to Malacañang, they are sent to Muntinlupa. People who commit crimes are not called ex-presidents, they are called current convicts. Of at least (near)-future ones.

While at this, the point as well is to prosecute—and jail them where they are found guilty—all those who participated in “Hello Garci” and “Marlborogate.” The Comelec officials in particular who participated and continue to participate in these crimes, the officials tasked with enforcing the will of the people, of guaranteeing the will of the people, of manifesting the will of the people. For so long has the Comelec been an object of lust of the greedy, the deceitful and the conniving for the rewards it brings in exchange for turning it into the opposite of what it is meant to be, of what it is meant to do. It’s time we brought integrity to a sacred office, it’s time we restored faith in a sacred trust, it’s time we allowed only the dutiful to carry out a sacred duty. It’s time we jailed the bastards who have been trashing that office all this time.

If we need to look closely at the effects of “Hello Garci” and “Marlborogate” on the results of the 2004 elections, it is only to see who should be proclaimed president in lieu of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. If belatedly, if posthumously, if well past due. That is most likely Fernando Poe Jr. His proclamation can come later, but we have enough right now to declare the position of president vacant from 2004 to 2010.

The truth will out. What goes around comes around. All those hoary platitudes have finally taken earthly shape. Arroyo’s own eagerness to jail a former president to prevent him from threatening her rule has come back to haunt. Erap was guilty only of stealing the cash, Arroyo is guilty of stealing the vote. Erap was guilty only of stealing women’s hearts, Arroyo is guilty of stealing a nation’s soul. She herself has set the precedent, the precedent for locking up a deposed but genuinely elected president. Can it be so hard to do the same thing, and needing only a small cell, to an undeposed but perfectly fake one?

The noose tightens.