DEAR GLORIA HELLO GARCI SPEAK UP BY ATTY. ROWENA GUANZON

Perspective
with Rowena V. Guanzon
Just say it
There is no way the president can survive the problem of the tape without saying a word about it. She just has to say if she called Comelec Commissioner Garcillano or not during the presidential election. If it was her, she can save her country the trouble and pain by resigning so that Senate President Franklin Drilon can call for elections and or a constitutional convention. If it wasn’t her, then she can help set up an independent and reliable mechanism for ascertaining the truth of the tape. But she cannot go about her daily business without giving us an answer. That’s not being honest, and that is not fair.
Now dubbed as “Gloriagate,” taken from the “Watergate” scandal during U.S. President Nixon’s term, the people’s recent dissatisfaction (according to a survey, the most unpopular president ever) is heightened by GMA’s ” I won’t dignify it with an answer” stance. It will not do to blame the opposition for this problem. It is not only the opposition who are calling for an answer. . Fernando Poe Jr. is dead. People like you and me are not interested in this issue because we want him or Susan Roces in Malacanang. We want a president who is not corrupt, and one who will not lie to us. We want a president who will not spare even her own husband if he has done something wrong. The reason for the unpopularity of Mike Arroyo is because the First Gentleman is suspected of having placed his friends in positions of tremendous power, and GMA has allowed it. Those who were appointed because of Mike Arroyo’s influence and who have a conscience should resign now. If they don’t, they are doing GMA a big disfavor. Resign, all of you who got your posts because of presidential patronage, especially those in government corporations.
The people, including those groups who supported GMA’s rise to the presidency are demanding an answer. Already, civil society groups are talking and the consensus is going towards a demand for the president to make a statement and say it once and for all, say whether it was it her or not in the taped conversation with Garcillano. Others are going to demand that she and Vice President Noli de Castro resign and the Senate President can all for a special election.
Garcillano and the Comelec are also not helping by keeping mum about it. Instead of an answer, all we have is a conspiracy to keep silent about it. If it was not Garcillano how come he is not saying so? He is hiding because he does not know what to say or he is still planning what to say.
GMA has a leadership duty in this issue, if only to avoid instability that is now affecting the economy. She should come out and say if she talked to Garcillano during the lections or not. If she says it was not her, the people must be assured of an independent and impartial way of finding the truth. There aren’t too many people in government that we can trust, but surely there must be three people who are acceptable to the people who can compose a commission. If only the politicians in the House of Representatives will conduct the investigation, they all have vested interests and cannot assure us of an impartial and speedy investigation.
Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos also has a duty. He cannot wash his hands and say we will get to it when a case is filed. That is a lot of hogwash. Your commissioner is being charged by the public with fraud in a presidential election and all you can say is you will wait if he is formally charged? If the people cannot trust the Comelec, why should we put our nation’s future in elections? Abalos does not only have a duty under the law, he should be mindful that an honest Commission on Elections holds the difference between the people’s belief in elections in this country and a revolt, where they can line up the corrupt against the wall.
And what is this talk that if you play the tape, you will be liable for sedition? Excuse me but I thought Martial Law ended in 1986. We had 14 years of that and there is no way we will take it sitting down. I can’t believe that there are people in this government who think we are stupid or have a short memory. Either that or they think we are all cowards.
We struggled against a dictatorship so that the future generation can be free. We (our generation) are not even dead yet and already, prior restraint on our freedom of speech is held over our heads like an executioner’s ax. I won’t be surprised if tomorrow some nut in the National Telecommunications Commission will say that downloading the “hello Garci” ring tone” is an act of sedition. The website has crashed due to the volume of texters who want the ring tone. Jokes about GMA’s silence are the new craze in textmania. If only we could do people power the “virtual” way by texting, this government would now be packing its bags.*