Arroyo cleared of poll fraud

MANILA – An official at the centre of an election fraud scandal involving Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo emerged from months of hiding yesterday and cleared her from allegations of cheating in last year’s poll.

Virgilio Garcillano, a former election commissioner, has not been seen in public since June, when the opposition produced recordings of conversations it said were of him and Arroyo planning to fix the results of national elections. Garcillano, whose appointment to the election agency ended in June, said he spoke with Arroyo during the vote counting but disputed allegations she ordered him to rig the results to make her win by at least a million-vote margin over her closest rival.”The president was asking why her advantage over FPJ had been reduced to 892 000,” Garcillano told ABS-CBN television in an interview near his hideout on the southern island of Mindanao.He was referring to Fernando Poe Jr, an action movie hero who nearly defeated Arroyo in the presidential election in May 2004.He died last December before his election protest was resolved by the Supreme Court.”We are talking of the votes already counted, so how can we rig the elections?” he said.The allegations brought Arroyo’s four-year presidency to the brink of collapse in July as members of her economic and social teams in the cabinet resigned and called for her to step down.Three weeks after the recordings came out in June, Arroyo apologised for a “lapse in judgement” in talking with an unnamed elections official while votes were being tallied during national elections last year, but she denied any wrongdoing.The opposition has since launched efforts to unseat her through street protests.- Nampa-ReutersGarcillano, whose appointment to the election agency ended in June, said he spoke with Arroyo during the vote counting but disputed allegations she ordered him to rig the results to make her win by at least a million-vote margin over her closest rival.”The president was asking why her advantage over FPJ had been reduced to 892 000,” Garcillano told ABS-CBN television in an interview near his hideout on the southern island of Mindanao.He was referring to Fernando Poe Jr, an action movie hero who nearly defeated Arroyo in the presidential election in May 2004.He died last December before his election protest was resolved by the Supreme Court.”We are talking of the votes already counted, so how can we rig the elections?” he said.The allegations brought Arroyo’s four-year presidency to the brink of collapse in July as members of her economic and social teams in the cabinet resigned and called for her to step down.Three weeks after the recordings came out in June, Arroyo apologised for a “lapse in judgement” in talking with an unnamed elections official while votes were being tallied during national elections last year, but she denied any wrongdoing.The opposition has since launched efforts to unseat her through street protests.- Nampa-Reuters