FINAL REPORT - Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

confusion and deception, and suppress all other legitimate, nay, even official,
investigation and inquiry.
Thus came the Tabayoyong raid, the unofficial, unpublished but brusquely
practiced policy of “calibrated pre-emptive response” in the crushing of all manner of
peaceful assembly and petition for redress of grievances under the dubious umbrella
of the martial law edict B.P. 880, the great conspiracy that made possible the great
escape of the suspect at the center of the storm, Virgilio Garcillano, the killing of the
impeachment complaint by pure technicality in the face of massive popular demand
for honest inquiry, the issuance of E.O. 464 which gagged the Senate and allowed
Executive Department officials, high or low in rank, to ignore summonses and
invitations in legislative inquiries (including even as fundamental an activity as a
budget hearing), and of course. Of course there is good ground for the suspicion that
the breathing space provided him with time to fabricate, as confirmed by the recent
filing of charges against him for falsification, perjury, and violations of the Passport
Act of 1996 by no less than members of the House of Representatives. And seeming
like a culmination, there was Presidential Proclamation 1017, in the wake of which
was a systematic deluge of constitutional and statutory, even criminal, violations of
the Filipino people’s basic democratic rights, including those that are the lifeblood of
the media, that democratic institution we call the Fourth Estate because of its role as
pillar of freedom.
In the realm of common-sense, as in the field of evidence, this systematic and
willful suppression of evidence by President Arroyo makes inevitable the presumption
that the motive behind the suppression is the fact that the evidence, if produced, will
be adverse to her interest – i.e., will incriminate her. 73 The wide, tenacious swath and
spread of coinciding, complementary efforts that she leads to cover up crimes and
constitutional violations leads to no other conclusion than guilt.
On top of the foregoing official behavior and attitude of President Arroyo’s
administration that clearly favors obfuscation, evasion and prevarication to downright
falsification of the truth and the suppression of the citizens’ cherished, inalienable
freedoms and liberties whenever focused on anomalies and wrongdoing, we find it to
be the height of insolence and arrogance – and the ultimate insult to the democratic
notion of accountability to the citizenry -- that erring public servants are even
rewarded with official promotion, while whistle-blowers who risk life, limb and
livelihood for truth are prosecuted and subjected to blackmail or persecution. The
generals implicated in the Garci Tapes have continued to be assigned to command
posts 74 , while Brig. Gen. Gudani and Col. Alexander Balutan are both undergoing
73
As former Commissioner of Customs Ramon Farolan asks, not without a hint of exasperation: “Why is it that the
authorities are so quick to pounce on people like Soliman, David and Montaño, and yet we don’t see any
such resolute action being taken on characters like Virgilio Garcillano, Joc-Joc Bolante or Benjamin Abalos?
If it was true that Garcillano was in the country all the time, why could not our police authorities track him down for so
long? It was as though some people wanted some time for sentiments to cool down before presenting him. Has the
government exhausted all means to get Bolante back so he could testify on the P728-million fertilizer scandal? Has
his passport been cancelled, and have we asked for assistance in bringing him back to the country?” (“First They
Came For The Communists,” Ramon J. Farolan (Reveille), PDI-Opinion, March 26, 2006, Sunday, p A13; emphasis
supplied)
74
While the promotion of then AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Brig. Gen. Hermogenes Esperon to
Lieutenant General is pending confirmation by the Commission on Appointments, he is referred to as the imminent
175