Belated post-Palawan roundup

Well, well, well. Merceditas Gutierrez, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, is named Ombudsman.

In the punditocracy, my Arab News column for this week is Lessons From Garcillano: Arroyo Was Too Hands On.

Ellen Tordesillas tackles the holes in Garcillano’s arguments, and the Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial exclaims, Hello!? And in Cocktails, the skinny on why missprinted 100 peso bills appeared (great reading for banknote collectors; a friend told me the missprinted 100 peso bills currently sell for 400 pesos). The Business Mirror, which at last has a website up, has Luis Teodoro playing a scarlet Ebenezer Scrooge.

In the blogosphere, let’s start with All Thing Garci: Philippine Commentary asks, what if the “Mother of All Tapes” is in digital format? The public thing compares the situation to the story of the blind men and the elephant. JJ Disini echoes Edwin Lacierda about how the anti-wiretapping law might be inapplicable to the Garci case. The Unlawyer focuses on divisions within the Palace on how to handle Garci. Heckler at Large suggests 10 reasons we should be grateful to Garci.

RG Cruz covers the 2nd confrontation between lawyers for and against the Americans.

Hillblogger reproduces a letter by David Martinez, apologizing on behalf of the Baby Boomer generation for screwing up the country.

Eating the Sun announces that (Hoorah!) Butch Dalisay, noted author, now blogs.

Rasheed’s World bewails the aging of Jay Manolo more than the moralism of one of his movies.

Normblog points to how the Iranian government is is losing in its war against dissident blogs.  BatesLine links to a website focusing on famous resignations. Via Andrew Sullivan, a link to an essay by Charles Krauthammer, on The Truth about Torture (remember the famous NeoCon question: if you knew a major act of terrorism was going to be committed, and had a suspect in hand who might reveal information that could stop it, would you use torture?).

Badger Blog Alliance muses about ranking algorhythms (thanks for using my blog as an example: having painfully crawled out of the primordial ooze and made it to Adorable Rodent, I’m back to being a Crawly Amphibian in The Truth Laid Bear rankings). pu-pu platter named as book of the month a title that might make interesting reading for Dean Jorge Bocobo. And the winners of the 8th Annual Philippine Web Awards.

To Dream For Department: A Mac mini for the living room.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Hello Garci, media, Philippines

Google it, just a little bit

I’m off to Puerto Princesa City to speak in a forum. Will be be back tomorrow.

From Slate comes The Great Google Wipeout: Chronicle of a corporate death foretold.

From Presto Vivace: a link to peering into Google’s future.

From BuzzMachine: Borgle (something to do with Google Base). What’s Google Base? The New Web explains (so does Shannelle.net) and points to the growth in the company, not to mention how Google’s trying to establish free WiFi  for the planet.

Citizen on Mars ponders Googlebombing.

Yuga is the guy to turn to with everything Google-income (read: AdSense) related, such as his updates on how AdSense allows advertisers to bid for advertising on your blog and Google’s click-to-call.

From remembering rebecca: a link to A non-controversial alternative to Google Print.

From Filipino Librarian: How Google PageRank works.

Google Book Search. Google Scholar (academic search). Google Earth.

Oh, and this isn’t Google-related, but click here to see how Silktide rates this blog.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Google, googling

Holiday roundup

The papers scream about last night’s prepared statement read by Virgilio Garcellano. The Philippine Daily Inquirer: I never left RP, says Garcillano
Denies talk with Arroyo to rig 2004 poll results; the Manila Times: Garcillano clears GMA, Grants ABS-CBN interview; the Philippine Star: Garci: GMA did not cheat; the Daily Tribune: Garci surfaces, clears Gloria; Malaya newspaper: Garci: Yes, I talked with Gloria but…; and Manila Standard-Today: Garci speaks, denies rigging ’04 elections; and the Arab News, with Missing Garci Shows Up in TV Interview, Denies Cheating for President Arroyo.

Dan Mariano in Garci: Sleepless at Sibugay explains why reporters view former Senator Kit Tatad as a reliable source, and then details what Tatad says about Garci’s hegira. The PCIJ carefully dissects Garci’s statement.

But the bete noir of Garcillano seems to be Senator Panfilo Lacson. ABS-CBN reports it thus: Garci: Lacson one of reasons for hiding, All the attention being paid to Senator Lacson reminds us once more that he is, by default, the leader of the mainstream opposition, as I suggested was already the case last June in Last Senator Standing. The Times says Grillers of Garci impatient. The Philippines Free Press blog reproduces an editorial from 1988: Wanted, A Respectable Opposition. Still true.

Read katataspulong for a bracing once-over of the current crisis: on the opposition (less vicious now than when it was in power); on the self-interest everyone posseses (he dissects the ownership of media, for example); and the future prime ministers of the country.

Constitution revision, reform, or replacement? Not even the Speaker of the House seems sure of his terminology, read JDV: 85% we will have new Charter in the Philippine Star. What’s interesting, though, is this, from the Speaker:

The entire process, he said, will probably take 30 days or more. “If the SC rules that the three-fourths vote requirement is okay, then we have a new Constitution and we will submit it to the Filipino people two months thereafter”…If moves to amend the charter by constituent assembly succeed, De Venecia said there may be a plebiscite …by the first week of May. Alternatively… Charter change proponents may launch the people’s initiative and referendum through which local government units, legislators and civil society leaders nationwide will gather to endorse proposed amendments to the Constitution with the signatures of 12 percent of the country’s voters.

These voters’ signatures will be verified by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), he said, then a plebiscite will be called after two months.

The referendum method, he said “is a constitutionally authorized track of initiative, especially when there is a crisis between the Senate and the House. When there is paralysis between the Senate and the House, then you have the people’s initiative and referendum …” The power of the people, he added “is the power of approval or disapproval.” …De Venecia said, “We’ll have a parliamentary government starting June.”

So the Speaker’s let all his plans, from A to D, out of the bag (Standard-Today says: Congress thumbs down ConCon). Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ tackles what remains a thorny problem for the Speaker: do both houses of Congress tackle amendments separately, or jointly? He says both Houses can arguably treat amendments as it does laws, each house passing its version then rehashing the proposals in the bicameral conference committee. Mindanews reports Federalism favored in Visayas, Mindanao, even Manila, consultations show .

In the punditocracy, my column for today is  Of heroism and hubris  and Billy Esposo warns, Be ready for more showbiz presidents; Jarius Bondoc writes, Weak middle class, strong rebellion, pointing to a UN study that says insurgency thrives where the middle class is vanishing; and Fel Maragay, in Power schemers after Reyes? goes into the scuttlebutt that there is a whole slew of cabinet firings and resignations due in December to January. He deals specifically with rumors Interior Sec. Angelo Reyes will be posted to Washington, D.C. (other scuttlebutt is that Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita will be relieved, as will political adviser Gabby Claudio; Mike Defensor will be made Presidential Chief of Staff while close presidential confidant Alcantara will be made Executive Secretary; some cabinet members, ranging from the Labor Secretary to the Defense Secretary, depending on who is doing the whispering, may be contemplating resigning in December, having stuck it out with the president through the worst of the crisis). Peter Wallace tackles the President’s assertion that the Economy poised for takeoff and debunks it. Former Palace press corps old hand Marichu Villanueva has no objections to the press area being moved to another location.

In the blogosphere, RG Cruz congratulates his colleagues (but Mindanao Alerts has a bone to pick over some terms used by ABS-CBN reporters). Edwin Lacierda argues the Garci tapes cannot be covered by the present anti-wiretapping law. Philippine Commentary produces an emailed article from an American reviving that hoary old chestnut that their fight in 1899-1901 (and further) was between them and the Tagalogs with some Capangpangans, but not the rest of the country. That’s the kind of thinking that wanted to separate Mindanao from the rest of the country (see my article on Mindanao and old suspicions).

Ellen Tordesillas reproduces Part One and Part Two of an alleged briefing paper and marginal notes from the Palace (Kit Tatad told the press about it a week or so ago).

My Favorite “Progressive” Blogger says the government is not her government: which necessarly leads to the question, if not, then how can someone refusing to pay allegiance to the Republic expect protection and liberties and rights guaranteed by that Republic? Anyway her entry is a clear distillation of what “national democracy” stands for. And speaking of Capitalism-hating, Go Figure explains why the Peso is strong.

Mongster’s Nest tackles education, then and now. Be happy you don’t blog in Saudi Arabia.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, CBCP, Hello Garci, media, Philippines

‘Tis true! (updated)

Whatever happened to there’s no real news on a Sunday??

ABS-CBN Interactive finally has the Mother of All Scoops: Garci says hello, talks exclusively to ABS-CBN (the link, alas, is blank for now, perhaps the story will appear when they normally have their 4 p.m. updates).  Inq7.net reports, Garcillano surfaces, admits speaking with Arroyo.
Let the games begin.

Ricky Carandang provides the skinny on the story: Garci may not be completely under control.

This story won’t get proper traction until Tuesday, when people go back to work.

Technorati Tags: Hello Garci, Philippines

Sunday brunch

All things Southeast Asian Games related can be found on Dyaryoboy.com’s page on the 2005 SEA Games. By the way, I never read the sports pages so only found out that Ronnie Nathanielsz is a sports columnist for the Manila Standard-Today! What happened to the campaign to deport him?

Madame Chiang is amused by Metro Manila street names.

Speaking of Sunday brunch, Eating the Sun writes an entertaining rant that includes what her pastors used to say: don’t eat at Fiestas because the food laid out is a Catholic sacrificial meal to idols.

Here’s an interesting series of articles on the origins of many famous American salads.

And guess who invented fruit cocktail? William Vere Cruess.

Batjay has the funniest synopsis of the spirit of Thanksgiving in America: “I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.”

Oh, and sayote, which is chayote, came from Mexico via a Spaniard in 1922 (is it true McDonald’s uses it instead of apples for its apple pie?).
And back to brunch: a smorgasbord of podcasts from the Philippines (hat tip to iBlog). Pam Pastor blogs about it, too.

Via rebecca’s pocket: guess what, singing may fight Alzheimer’s! Speaking of singers, remember David Hasselhoff, of Knightrider fame? Well, he’s always been a pop star in Germany and he’s set to do a Madonna cover. Speaking of stars from our youth… From kottke.org: Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi) has passed away. No more “wax on, wax off…” and crude, jesting variations thereof. Speaking of the 80’s, when we watched Knightrider and Karate Kid, Vincula (UP law professor Teddy Te)  thinks the 80s was a great decade. And Adel Gabot has an intriguing entry on backmasking -you know, if you play some albums backwards they reveal something creepy… Speaking of creepy, Captain Marlow links to a series of discussions on blood and sacrifice.

On movies, McVie Show (Season 3) reviews a trailer. Karl (the most tireless commenter here) goes Googling.

Stepping on poop got one of those misprinted 100 peso bills and says it’s all poop.

Kuro-kuro wants to uplift blog discourse in Filipino (the other bloggers who write in Filipino that I regularly read are Ang Tambayan ni Paeng and Ellen Tordesillas). Click Mo Mukha Mo has lots of linkalicious links. FriscoDude points to that rare thing in Singapore, satire. the white papers rants about engineerenglish. And someone please explain to me what this entry means!

I am usually Scrooge-like at Christmas time, but what’s this? The University of the Philippines lantern parade’s been canceled?

And of course, Heckler At Large’s  Year Ender Awards. And last, but not least, watch Gene Kelly get updated!

Technorati Tags: Blogging, media, personal, Philippines, podcasting, puppy

Weekend developments

My immediate boss in the Arab News, Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, has commentary on the Subic rape case appearing in the Arab News, in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and his own blog (which was the first to publish his op-ed piece, actually). He says there are still too many questions left unanswered.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial today hits at the Secretary of Justice but sounds a cautionary note about the trial to be, itself. The editorial comes in the wake of reports that either the accuser will recant her testimony, or that the case might get bungled because the Filipino driver of the van is now a defendant. The latest eyewitness testimony seems to be clarifying the case: the victim was dumped because the soldiers were rushing to make it back to their ships.

Apropos of GI’s and Filipinas, Gail Ilagan pens a devastating portrait of the mercenary mentality of some Filipinos. Grayspectrum thinks the case shouldn’t be turned into a battle of the sexes.

And the Garcillano drama continues: The Daily Tribune and the Malaya newspaper both headline that the First Gentleman recently met with Garcillano in Zamboanga del Sur. ABS-CBN Interactive reports on the new petition filed by Garcillano’s lawyer for the Hello, Garci tapes to be ordered inadmissible as evidence (there’s an earlier one asking the high court to invalidate the warrant of arrest issued under the direction of the House). The Manila Standard-Today and the Philippine Star report members of the House are circling their wagons: they defend their arrest order and their investigation. (This is a good time to review things like the Jesuit Guidelines for dealing with the Crisis: see the guidelines and commentary by livingplanet).

Philippine Commentary tackles the issue in depth, and says the burden of proof is on the opposition to prove the following:

(1) To prove that WHOEVER wiretapped the conversations were GUILTY of violations of the Anti-Wiretapping Law, and acts of TREASON against the Republic if equipment and personnel of the Armed Forces were illegally used to spy on candidates in the 2004 national elections (whoever they were).

(2) To prove that EVEN IF such material had been illegally acquired, the PUBLIC’S RIGHT TO KNOW surpasses the putative RIGHTS of the STATE to protect itself, which was the TRUE SPIRIT of the Anti-Wiretapping Law.

May topak thinks it’s all squid tactics. (Speaking of squids, sort of: from Free Republic, the news India is poised to develop a nuclear submarine.) And back to squid tactics: The Public Thing appeals for more civilized and enlightening debate to help resolve crises and conflicts (this blog has the potential to be quite intriguing; the author describes himself as “a former member of Special Project Alpha under the Directorate for Intelligence, Philippine National Police and defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF)”). Another new, potentially quite interesting blog is Mindanao Alerts (latest post is on what to expect in a government-MILF peace deal).

Here’s something interesting from The Bangus Supremacy: is blogging incestuous?

I’m not American but I really dislike the xenophobia propagated by the BushWorshippers. The right way to tackle threats is this, as suggested by ZenPundit with regards to Chinese espionage in the USA.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, CBCP, Hello Garci, politics

Believe it or not

From a friend: “I love it! Miriam Defensor Santiago as Chief Justice. Prospero Pichay as Speaker of the House. Merceditas Gutierrez as Ombudsman. Rick Abcede in the PCGG. The only thing lacking is the Senate!”

My response? Lito Lapid as Senate President.

Say goodnight, Garci, I mean, Gracie.

Goodnight, Gracie.

Technorati Tags: Hello Garci, Philippines, politics

Garcius et Circensis

Garci and Circuses, to borrow the Roman saying. Cobble the papers and the columns and blogs together and what do you get? Pieces of a puzzle that’s beginning to reveal a picture.

There’s this Inquirer story: “Garcillano out next week’”: Pichay to seek custody of ex-election official. And one from Inq7.net: Palace: Opposition not interested in truth. The Manila Times focuses on Senator Panfilo Lacson’s reaction: Ping: Garci return scripted by Palace. Malaya, which is frankly pro-Lacson, thunders, Ping: Garci lining up “friendly” witnesses. The Daily Tribune, fanatically pro-Estrada, mutters, Garci smuggled in by BI, lands in Zamboanga. To round things off, the Philippine Star confidently coos, Palace braces for “Garci” circus, hopes for closure (this is better than the Manila Standard-Today, which is trying to pretend, apparently, that nothing concerning Garci is taking place). That’s as far as the papers spell things out. Add columnist Lito Banayo, who has a bracing summary of Garci’s hegira, indicating the information some in the opposition possess, and the speculation by Uniffors (that mysterious association of Department of Foreign Affairs people) that the party line will be Garci never left the country, as well as Philippine Commentary’s analysis, and you have what? A great gamble by the Palace.

The gamble, if you cobble the above together, is to write finis to the Garci story before the Catholic Bishop’s Conference can revisit its past prudence. There have been ripples of interest but no really big splash, and the Palace wants to keep it that way. The President can look forward to several things helping to distract the general population:

1. Christmas, bonuses, shopping, traffic, family reunions and gatherings of friends.
2. The South East Asian Games.
3. The more troublesome in Congress have been deprived of their bully pulpits as committee chairmen in the House.
4.Congress will go on vacation soon enough, and besides, because of 1, nothing really happens in the country in December.
5. Garci, his script, his possible willingness to spill the beans on at least some major figures in the opposition, and enough time to have practiced and gotten his alibis and stories straight.

Clearing the decks now will allow the President to attend to the fights to come next year: over charter change; with the Catholic bishops; and the possible combination of cabinet members deciding to resign (having served her through the most challenging of times, but without the stomach to do so indefinitely), and a purge being mounted to kick non-loyalists upstairs just in case a confrontation with Fidel V. Ramos and Speaker de Venecia becomes unavoidable. It’s a breathtaking gamble. And she could just pull it off.

The rape case in Subic: RG Cruz covers the first meeting of the lawyers. And lawyer Edwin Lacierda thinks the prosecution got its butt whipped. Philippine Politics links to speculation the victim may recant.

Jove Francisco says the Palace Press Corps has gotten wind of a plan to move them to the New Executive Building.

On Andres Bonifacio: The Supremo’s End is my column for today. Filipino Librarian links to Bonifacio Papers, quite a good website. And La Vida Lawyer concludes his series on Bonifacio with a legal analysis of the Supremo’s trial.

Philippine Commentary tackles People Power in a fascinating post but ignores several crucial things:

1. Joseph Estrada should have resigned, but refused to (in a sense, the President today learned her lesson from him). Even if you take into consideration the things other people did, his refusal to do so, on the advice of Edgardo Angara, constituted a great disservice to the country. Estrada’s new lease on political life came at the behest of Civil Society, which wanted him arrested and humiliated. But in January, 2001, he was as finished as Ferdinand Marcos was: though both men could have unleashed an orgy of bloodletting, as DJB points out.
2. Edsa III was People Power until it was stoked to the point the people decided to march on the Palace: at which point, the leaders melted away. If People Power is peaceful, it is also led by the leaders at the front, not the rear. People Power is more a strategy, a political technique, to get a grip on a situation. That is what keeps it peaceful.
3. People Power, as noted above, must be stoked, there must be something to focus the public’s attention and graphically remind them of what they’re up against. After 1983, there was Ninoy’s murder and in 1985-86, there was the clumsy manner with which the Marcos campaign cheated to win. In 2001 there was the Impeachment Trial which fascinated then infuriated, the nation. In 2005, the President made sure to prevent a trial at all costs, and learned from 2001 by preventing any gathering of any significant duration to take place.

A Hundred Years Hence has heartening news: the effort to organize buses has helped make routes more profitable. So now the government will try to organize jeepneys -and the jeepney unions are actually OK with it.

Technorati Tags: CBCP, Hello Garci, media, Philippines, politics

Garci news hits the fan

(Philippines poised for takeoff? No, just a malfunctioning F-16. From Inq7.net.)

Almost all the papers banner the expected resurfacing of missing former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. The Philippine Dally Inquirer: Garcillano is back, says wife; Ex-poll exec ‘slipped’ into Palawan from Sabah. The Manila Times: Garcillano back, willing to tell all. The Daily Tribune: Garci back, wife says BUT UNDER GLORIA CUSTODY WHILE ‘TUTORED’ BY PALACE AIDES. Malaya: Garcillano is back; Ping’s boys on the hunt. The Philippine Star: Garci back, ready to tell all. ABS-CBN Interactive, which together with DZMM and ANC, broke the news yesterday, reports the fallout in the House of Representatives, which began yesterday, continues: Garci return revives House wiretap probe.
This is actually one of the best examples in recent memory, of how headlines for the same story reveal the editorial line of the papers concerned. The inquirer views it as a thrilling whodunnit; the Times and the Star, both frankly pro-administration papers, trumpet the Palace party line (“Garci” is gunna spill the beans on everyone!); the Tribune, pro-Estrada, sees it as a new chapter in a dark plot masterminded by the President; Malaya, pro-Lacson, sounds the charge for the vigilante crowd. Incidentally, the shadowy Uniffors says, We told you so:

Like the famous Watergate break-in, the Hello Garci cover-up is worse than the crime that was originally committed. It perverted our law-enforcement system, from the Justice Department and the NBI all the way to the DFA and the Immigration Bureau. It debased our law-makers even more with millions in bribes to kill the impeachment complaint. It continues to divide the country. It has caused immeasurable damage to the country’s morals, morale and reputation.

Read Philippine Commentary’s take on the development.

Anywho, government workers have been assured of their 13th month pay.

Parliamentary notes. So much for parliamentary government fostering party loyalty. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leaves the Likud Party, forms his own, and seems set to win elections -and a new term as PM- next year. So much for parliamentary government resulting in the swift replacement of governments. After months of bickering, Germany has its first female Chancellor, stuck with a “Grand Coalition.”

In the punditocracy, my Arab News column for this week is The Untold Influence of Ex-Presidents in the Post-Marcos Era.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial is titled Final Solution, denouncing the systematic murder of Communists (for more, read Dan Mariano’s column). This reminds me of a commentary by Ralf Dahrendorf on the three pillars of a liberal democratic order (the first: democracies must not tolerate those who set out to destroy democracy, an idea Dean Jorge Bocobo would heartily agree with; the second is authentic rule of law; the third, a vibrant civil society).

Carmen Guerrero Nakpil tackles the present crisis from the point of view of linguistics (speaking of language, Greg Macabenta suggests some sort of peace corps solution to the disappearance of English in the Philippines). Jarius Bondoc tackles the Pork Barrel and strongly hints Justice Reynato Puno will be the next Chief Justice. Amando Doronila tackles the Citizen’s Congress and judges it as having usurped state functions.

Ellen Tordesillas reviews a new book on journalism ethics by one of my favorite columnists, Vergel Santos (who writes for Business World which has locked away its online content for op-ed, alas). She summarizes Santos’s advice for people dealing with the media.

Marichu Villanueva mourns the lost chance of the Philippines to have a Disneyland. Ambeth Ocampo writes about a Catholic priest active in the Philippine Revolution. Jojo Robles says the arrival of Vietnam’s team for the SEA Games tomorrow indicates a show down with the team leader is nigh (his paper had an exclusive regarding a statement by the head of the Vietnamese Olympic Committee, that the games in Manila will be rigged). Ting Tiongco reminisces about studying in UP Manila in the late 1960s (and meeting his first feminist).

Finally, last Sunday’s column by Randy David reminds me of the points I raised in my pieces in ; David argues now, what I’ve been saying all along: the President is leading a rear-guard action to save a system that’s failing (the larger thesis is in my essay, Circle to Circle).

The blogosphere has Jove Francisco reporting on an unusual (though perhaps expected) modification to the Palace: the elimination of the Mabini Gate (formerly known as Gate 7). The gate was the attacked on May 1, 2001. It has been basically closed since (among other reasons, because the gate was considered to have bad Feng Shui). Incidentally, apparently my official history of the Palace is available on line.

2nd link to Philippine Commentary: his eloquent defense of the War on Terror (my mixed feelings on that war have to do with Dubya and his Deputy President, Cheney, and their views on an absolutist control over America abroad). Accompanying reading comes from Belmont Club’s dissection of Australian intelligence and low-intensity conflict as a necessary adjunct of the war.

PCIJ inaugurates its podcasts with a podcast on the “Hello, Garci” tapes and another podcast, on how Filipinos are born mimics.

Big Mango continues his series dissecting the Philippines’ Medium Term Development Plan. ExpectoRANTS is miffed with those dispensing “the truth”; Another Hundred Years Hence bats for the integration of ticketing for the various light rail lines in Metro Manila (a colleague claims there are I Love the MRT websites, but I haven’t found them).

Kottke.org has been touring South East Asia and reports Thais don’t like Tuk-tuks (their version of the jeepney). They tolerate them because tourists like them, that’s it.

The Daily Nightly mourns the death of Hugh Sidey, who covered every US president from Eisenhower to Dubya.

Garcillano found?

ABS-CBN Interactive breaks the story Garcillano back in RP, says wife:

Mrs. Garcillano, according to Carandang’s report, said her husband questioned why only his telephone conversations with a person who sounded like President Arroyo have been made public, when in fact, he talked to a lot of candidates in the 2004 polls, including several opposition figures.

“We want everything to come out,” Carandang quoted Mrs. Garcillano as saying.

Carandang added: “She said that Mr. Garcillano received calls from people on both sides of the political fence asking him to perform services to protect their votes. She said she does not want to characterize it as cheating but protection of votes.”

Mrs. Garcillano said that she and her husband went into hiding for fear of their lives when the wiretapping controversy started.

She said that she and her husband returned to the Philippines last week from an undisclosed country.

“According to Mrs. Garcillano, the people who helped them leave the country were neither from the administration nor the government but these were friends,” Carandang reported.

She said her husband is not under government control or being held by the opposition. She added that “friends” are helping them move to different locations in Mindanao to avoid detection by authorities.

Something was up, as I speculated here and here. Big hints, in retrospect from places such as RG Cruz’s blog here and here and here. This is the Mother of All Scoops for Ricky Carandang.

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