The Citizen On Mars

Who says technology is always good for us? Clearly, the great technological advancement we have experience in recent times—especially in the field of computers and communication—had been such a boon to mankind that many of us could not anymore imagine life without the Internet or cell phones. But like everything else, there is a downside to the onrush of technology, like upon salt—when salt is too much it becomes a health hazard. Even a harmless and innocuous everyday staple like water kills when too much is introduced into the human body.

Because of technology—or the great advancement thereof—it becomes now extremely difficult to nail former COMELEC Virgilio Garcilliano with the supposedly wire-tapped conversations, the ones contained in the now-legendary “Hello Garci Tapes”, where it can always be denied that the voices involved or included in such tapes were merely manufactured or faked. Modern electronic gadgets that are readily available now—even in your friendly neighborhood electronic shop—can operate the scheme called “splicing” where recorded sounds or voices can be altered using the simplest of tricks. Perhaps, there are tricks out there that could mimic a person’s voice to the minutest tonal detail. In this age, I could not in heaven’s name tell the difference between the voice of Erap and that of Willy Nepomuceno, except when either or both of them would be speaking right in front of me. Electronic morphing or cut-and-phase processes had become so seamless nowadays with the use of advanced computer softwares that can be easily had in the nearest pirate haven like Quiapo or Greenhills. Movie stars caught on tape in uncompromising situations (or positions) often used this morphing alibi—claiming that their faces were just super-imposed on the nude bodies of other persons. Or in the other way around, malicious operators can use this kind of technology to malign movie stars, making them appear like they were caught unawares while doing something too lurid, when in fact they have not been in such situation.

“In heaven’s name I could not believe that the voice on the tape was not the voice of Garcilliano…”, that’s what one exasperated congressman quipped when nothing significant could really be milked out of Garcilliano’s mouth after hours and hours of interrogation. And in heaven’s name, I find it so sad that the inquiry into the alleged election fraud committed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Garcilliano could end up just being whitewashed and drained out of public’s scrutiny. Suddenly, the whole issue now becomes similar to a rape case where most of the time it becomes “your word against my word”, where there are no witnesses to relate the whole incident and no strong evidences to present.

Perhaps, those who are aiming to trap Garcilliano into making a mistake are just fortunate that they have the Singaporean diplomatic letter that had confirmed the fact that Garcilliano did in fact left the Philippines sometime this year (He kept on denying this fact despite the letter). Unlike a taped conversation, a formal or official letter from a veritable public agency like the Singaporean Embassy is not easily “spliced” and can be more easily verified or confirmed.

We have a situation now where the whole inquiry into Garci’s election misdeeds—the success of failure thereof—could hang upon a sheet of paper.