Tape scam becomes nuisance for Philippines president
By John Aglionby
MANILA: Anyone unused to the wacky world of the Philippines’ celebrity-studded political landscape might wonder how an alleged recording of the president, Gloria Arroyo, purportedly attempting to rig last year’s presidential election has suddenly become Manila’s most popular mobile phone ring tone. The craziness hasn’t stopped there. The “Hello! Hello! Garci” sound clip - which opposition politicians claim Ms Arroyo said at the start of a conversation with the electoral commissioner, Virgilio Garcillano, before asking him about her final vote total — has also been turned into a car horn and is being fitted to some of the traditional Philippine buses, called jeepneys.
The justice secretary, Raul Gonzalez, has dismissed the trend as merely something blotting the national culture. “What we do is make something ugly uglier,” he said. The reality is more serious but, analysts believe, at the same time still reassuring for the beleaguered president. For while Filipinos are undoubtedly cellphone barmy — the toppling of the previous president, Joseph Estrada, was described as the text message revolution — the fact that the sound clip is confined to phones and car horns, and is not coming out of people’s mouths as they take to the streets, suggests Ms Arroyo is unlikely to become the third presidential victim of Philippine people power. Or at least for the moment.
Her problems are twofold. First, there is the tape scandal. If the recording is found to be genuine, the congressional hearings into the affair, which began yesterday, could well develop into impeachment proceedings. The problem for the opposition is that Ms Arroyo controls both the congress and the senate, and her removal is unlikely unless further claims against her emerge. While presidential aides insist the tape is both doctored and fake and could be part of a plot to topple the government, critics believe Ms Arroyo is not helping herself by staying silent. After initial denials that she rigged the election, the president is refusing to comment. On Monday she said she would “make the appropriate statements on the issues at the appropriate time,” but that “it is not the appropriate time ... when there is extensive speculation”. The pugnacious Philippine media are almost unanimous in arguing that her silence condemns her further. “If all the accusations about the alleged wiretapped conversations are false, we should have heard vehement denials many days ago,” the Philippine Star said in an editorial yesterday. “The longer the silence of those implicated in this controversy, however, the more the perceptions of guilt are reinforced.”
Incendiary columnists say Ms Arroyo is trying to buy time in the hope that the issue will blow away with the next Pacific typhoon.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service
