Philippine Politics
The Garcilliano Twist
It’s the sort of things that Mexican soap opera are made of and as cheesy as they may seem, the travails of former COMELEC Commissioner Virgilio Garcilliano has just become more interesting and juicy as watermelon now that a recent twist has unfolded before us—one that might just give the telling blow on his own fate and that of his superiors and other minions.
Some say that there’s no perfect crime. And in this case, there’s no perfect alibi. When he came out of hiding some months ago, Garcilliano was cool as the morning breeze as he answered every question thrown at him with so much flair and elegance; and that despite his jumbled reputation, his interrogators were not able to cough out anything from him. Everything seems to have been ironed out so perfectly well that while Garcilliano maintained that Monalisa smile on his face (leaving us wondering what secrets lay behind that mysterious smile), the senators and congressmen were writhing in utter disgust and frustration.
But now….but now the tide could soon tipped over towards the legislators’ favor as a senator and a number of congressmen are hell-bent on cornering Garcilliano with charges of perjury and falsification of public document, after the Central Bank deemed his passport to be inauthentic. It turns out that some kinks were left unironed and some hole had escape rigorous attention.
In our procedural law—more particularly on evidentiary matters—the testimony of an expert witness is almost cold fact, unless that witness’ expertise is successfully rebuked later on. If a known doctor—not just any doctor—says that so-and-so has this kind of ailment, most probably it is a statement of truth that could not easily be set aside by the judge. So we often hear about some doctor or some psychiatrist being called upon to the witness stand in order to give the so-called expert testimony. Handwriting experts are also frequently asked to give testimonies in courts, of course, in order to ascertain if some writings were written by certain person or persons. Often, they are useful in inheritance conflicts when the last will and testament of the deceased is in holographic form, or written in his or her own handwriting.
The determination of Central Bank personnel on the authenticity of Garcilliano’s passport is one expert testimony that might in the future be used effectively against the former COMELEC commissioner and this kind of evidentiary matter is strongest and difficult to ignore, especially that it is the Central Bank alone that produces all Philippine passports, so its personnel should know better.
So if the Garci Tapes could not effectively pin down Garcilliano, he may not easily escape these recent charges leveled against him. I wonder how this particular twist may affect the allegations of cheating during the last presidential election. If the passport would be proven to have been faked later on, that could only mean that Garcilliano really had something to hide about the conduct of the said election. And if the impeachment complaint would be reactivated again later on this year by the opposition, this twist could be an important factor on its outcome. And because of this, Garcilliano and his minions might just be knocking themselves on the head right now for not having “sanitized” every detail of the script. Tsk..tsk…When everything could have been perfect.
snglguy Says —
Tsk tsk… if only those opposition senators and congressmen were this relentless in doing what they were REALLY paid to do by the taxpayers.
This is what we get for having a mass of uneducated, uninformed, and stupid voters…
BTW, your template is getting better. Suggestion, why don’t you use a drop down menu for your blogroll to save on space like I do?
Made on March 25, 2006 @ 12:05 am
erisac Says —
I really hope something is done about Gacilliano. He’s making a mockery out of our judicial system. He’s good enough reason, especially for our young people, to lose faith in our political system.
Made on March 25, 2006 @ 12:15 am
bw Says —
This guy should have hid until Gloria’s term is over! Now her will be the subject of intense scrutiny.
Made on March 25, 2006 @ 1:21 am
sef Says —
Although I think PGMA and Garci are as guilty as can be, you cannot be so sure that that passport will prove to be their downfall.
First, Garci could easily deny that he didnt know that the passport was fake (which he has already done). Second, Garci can easily claim that the passport was mishandled and could have been replaced by a fake (which he already said).
We see that pinning criminals down is not so easy task, and it is where media should have helped us had they been up to their tasks.
Made on March 25, 2006 @ 2:55 am
mong Says —
at ang arogante pa ng sagot ni garci. bakit daw siya sisihin kung fake ang passport, dapat daw yung dfa o central bank. mukhang binabalik na naman ng oposisyon ang garci isyu, sa tingin ko dapat lang….
Made on March 25, 2006 @ 4:51 am
leo Says —
hi major tom, nice and informative posts! i’m bloghopping and just checking your blogsite. Keep the blogs rolling!
Made on March 25, 2006 @ 2:27 pm
gari Says —
and that’s the same reason why the story hasn’t reached its ending yet.
Made on March 26, 2006 @ 9:48 am
Major Tom Says —
To snglguy: I’ve notice that man. In this sort of undertaking, they are so unrelentless and determined that you could almost smoke coming out of their nostrils.
Thanks for the good note on my template. It’s taking me a lot hours of tinkering actually but I am being patient lang. I’ll try to scour for some dropdown script. The Blogsome smarty WP coding is so limited that it wont accept many script types.
To erisac: Mockery is just about the right word Señor and with that memorable Monalisa smile he sported during the Senate hearings, I bet he had become a master of such and it escapes me how he can get away with that virtually unscathed. Maybe this time, he wouldn’t be as lucky.
To BW: That would have been the right strategy especially for a guy who had schemed so deviously. Maybe, he just couldn’t take the heat anymore and decided to face the music and pray to high heavens that he’ll be scot free after some debacle of sorts.
Made on March 26, 2006 @ 2:34 pm
Major Tom Says —
To sef: You are so correct sef yet usually in the matter of course in many cases, a bungle like this would easily lead to many presumptions as the judge would collate every circumstantial evidence. Kadalasan they would even take note of demeanors and accentuations. Sabi nga nila parang judgment calls and in my readings of a lot of decided criminal cases, matters like fake passports in a case were the accused denies going somewhere could make that heavy presumption that he or she must have hidden the real facts. Of course the judge would ask in his mind why a person like Garcilliano could ever take hold of a fake passport if the DFA had issued it to him. Maybe he would claim that he just authorized someone else to get it for him but we all know that getting a document like a passport needs so much of personal attendance to it. An agent or representative could not just sign papers and applications for him or his behalf.
To mong: Really? Did he said that? That sounds like another desperate alibi to me.
To leo: Thanks for coming leo. I’ll be rolling as you wish…
To gari: The ending seems to be far from over gari. I think it would rollover towards the planned reactivation of the impeachment proceedings against President Arroyo and with the Garci passport issue still around and fresh, it might all come to a boil. It would be so interesting to watch out for what will happen next.
Made on March 26, 2006 @ 2:46 pm
Sam Says —
Garci remains the key in unlocking the mystery that shrouds GMA’s legitimacy as President. And so the question now is would Malacanang allow Garci to be arrested?
Made on March 26, 2006 @ 5:04 pm
Major Tom Says —
To Sam: Actually, I wonder what would Malacañang do about this. If they’d hide Garcilliano again, I think that would be greatly unwise for them.
Made on March 26, 2006 @ 5:18 pm
snglguy Says —
Hey Tom, just tell me if you want the dropdown thing and I’ll send you a code that you can insert in the template.
Made on March 26, 2006 @ 11:09 pm
snglguy Says —
Hi Tom, I see that the dropdown menu code worked on your template. Oh and you can also put the archive section in a dropdown menu as well, just tell me if you want it and I’ll send you the code too.
BTW, thanks for that glowing review on my blog, hehe.
Made on March 29, 2006 @ 1:27 am
Major Tom Says —
I am glad you liked my review. maybe, i’ll need the codes too. I hope you can send it over. Thanks again for the assistance.
Made on March 30, 2006 @ 5:15 am
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