FINAL REPORT - Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

and their realization that the apology was just a sleight of hand to put an end to the
Garci Tapes crisis, that led, among other major reasons, to the resignation of the
Hyatt 10.
As earlier recounted, the resignation statement of the Hyatt 10
pertinently reads:
“On July 5, in a Cabinet meeting a week after her “I am
sorry” speech, the President expressed remorse over her
public statement on the Garci tape, chastised those of us who
insisted on her speaking about the tape and complained that
she drew more flak than public sympathy for her apology. We
wondered: Did she make the admission on the Garci tape out
of a sincere desire to tell the truth? Or, was the apology made
out of fear that some Cabinet members might resign if she did
not? Was this the reason why a majority of the people viewed
her public apology as insincere?” 72
Then there was the attempt of then Environment Secretary (now Presidential
Chief of Staff) Michael Defensor to impute to the “destabilizers” the alleged splicing of
the Garci Tapes through the addition of the words “’yong dagdag, ‘yong dagdag,” only
to be scientifically rebuffed by sound expert (and eventual CCTA witeness) Jaime
Sarthou, who explained that it was the Bunye Garci Tapes, not those of Alan Paguia,
that were spliced.
When it became increasingly evident that the populace would truly not be
content without knowing the truth behind the possible massive electoral fraud ignited
by the Garci Tapes, her apology notwithstanding, the developments will show that the
Arroyo administration began to show its true colors.
Instead of digging deep into the controversy and exacting through the enormous
powers of the Presidency all necessary facts and figures to hold accountable all
implicated warm bodies in the Executive Department, the Comelec and the military,
what President Arroyo and her alter-egos did was to utilize carrot and stick with all
their might to divert attention from the anomalies, belittle their significance through
pronouncing the noble words “Tonight, I want to set the record straight. You deserve an explanation from me,
because you are the people I was elected to serve,” President Arroyo saw fit not to disclose to the Filipino people
even just the identity of the Comelec official, much less what exactly they talked about to “protect her votes” and why
there was a need to do so. Second: If what she stated is true -- that the election “had already been decided” and the
“votes (had already been) counted” when she talked to the Comelec official -- then why, in the first place, did she
have to talk to the Comelec official at all? In what sense and exactly how did she imagine that a single Comelec
official could “protect her votes?” The inscrutable quality of her apology/admission thus fortifies the only conclusion
that makes sense, i.e., it was a cover-up for the truth of her role in the Garci Tapes.
72
“Survival-At-All-Cost (Or, How To Run One’s Country to the Ground),” Hyatt 10 statement read by former
Education Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad at the August 30 forum of the Black & White Movement (see p. 101
hereof)
174