The Hello Garci scandal (or just Hello Garci), also known as Gloriagate, was a political scandal and electoral crisis in the Philippines involving 14th president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who allegedly rigged the 2004 national election in her favor. The official results of the election gave Arroyo and Noli de Castro the presidency and vice-presidency respectively. Hundreds of national and local positions were also contested during this election. The scandal and crisis began in June 2005 when audio recordings of a phone call conversation between President Arroyo and then-Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, allegedly talking about the rigging of the 2004 national election results, were released to the public. This escalated when the minority of the lower house of Congress attempted to impeach Arroyo. This was blocked by the Arroyo-led majority coalition in September 2005 and no trial took place."Arroyo claims hollow victory" by Leslie Davis, Asia Times Online, September 27, 2005.
Allegations against Arroyo and her alleged accomplices in government were many, including electoral fraud and its supposed cover-up. The Arroyo administration denied some of the allegations and challenged others in court. The House of Representatives, which was dominated by Arroyo's coalition, blocked attempts for an impeachment trial. Arroyo's most publicized alleged accomplice from the electoral commission, Virgilio Garcillano, was missing for a few months, but returned to the capital in late 2005. Allegations persist regarding possible conspirators from the government who helped in his escape, and another alleged cover-up. Garcillano denied any wrongdoing, before his disappearance, and after his return. In December 2006, Garcillano was cleared of perjury charges by the Department of Justice.
Events history
Samuel Ong, a former deputy director of the country's National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), declared in a June 10, 2005, press conference " Ex-official says he has copies of Arroyo tape" by Carlos H. Conde, International Herald Tribune, June 11, 2005. that he possessed original recordings of a wiretapped conversation between Arroyo and an official of the Commission on Elections, who was alleged to be Virgilio Garcillano. In the following weeks, the media analyzed contents of the tapes. The Ong recordings allegedly proved that Arroyo rigged the 2004 national election to maintain her presidency and the political success of her allies. Arroyo denied the accusations of election rigging in a television broadcast on June 27, but acknowledged that it was her voice on the tape.Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's June 27, 2005, statement, Wikisource. Protests occurred frequently during the crisis either in favor or against Arroyo and her administration. Attempts to impeach Arroyo failed on September 6.
The scandal sparked three separate impeachment complaints during the 13th Congress. The first impeachment complaint came from Attorney Oliver Lozano alleged that then-President Arroyo's admission that the voice in the Ong recording was hers was sufficient basis to impeach her for betrayal of public trust and in subsequent supplemental affidavits alleged that her contact with a COMELEC official was punishable after the proclamation of the election in contest. Additional affidavits also allege that her signing of the E-VAT constituted a betrayal of public trust, that her failure to order the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, and Armed Forces of the Philippines constituted additional evidence for impeachment. A second impeachment complaint was filed by Attorney Jose Rizaldo Lopez supplementing the Lozano complaint while stating that only impeachment can address the stock market, peso exchange market, President Arroyo's ratings, fuel price hikes, and playing of alleged wiretapped conversations at the House of Representatives. A third impeachment complaint was also filed by Oliver Lozano as an amendment to his earlier complaint. The third complaint alleged her of violations of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust. The latter was allegedly caused by obstruction of justice, failure to publicly disclose business interests, and killings of political dissenters. Additionally it also accused her of graft, bribery, and corruption from projects that were unfair to the Government and alleged bribery of officials to certify Arroyo's win.
Public opinion During the scandal, polls and surveys conducted by Social Weather Stations, CNN/Time, and Pulse Asia measured public opinion regarding the allegations and other related issues.
According to a CNN/Time poll, 57.5% of the people surveyed said that Philippine President Macapagal-Arroyo should not finish her term."Poll: Most say Arroyo should go" , CNN, July 11, 2005. A Pulse Asia survey released on Philippine news on July 12 showed that 57% of the people wanted incumbent President Arroyo to resign from office.
On January 25, 2008, Pulse Asia survey (commissioned by Genuine Opposition (GO) per former Senator Sergio Osmeña III) stated that 58% percent of Filipinos in Mindanao believed that President Arroyo cheated in the 2004 Philippine general election. 70% "believed that because of recurring allegations of election fraud, the credibility of the balloting process in Mindanao was at a record low."GMA NEWS.TV, Most Mindanaoans believe Arroyo cheated in ’04 polls , Pulse
Evidence Ong recordings Two recordings were presented to the public: the Ong recordings and the government endorsed version of the recordings. Uncut copies of the Ong recordings managed to become widespread. The first recordings to be released to the press were used in the Congressional inquiry on the crisis. The second set of recordings, described by the government as the original (SET1A, SET1B, SET1C, SET1D) and spliced (SET2A, SET2B, SET2C, SET2D, SET2E) recordings, was more easily accessible in the Philippines as the government did not restrict the media from airing it. However, the media aired both sets, focusing on the Ong recordings.
One 17-second snippet of the recorded phone conversation that is widely alleged to be between Arroyo and election official Virgilio Garcillano ("Garci") features a woman discussing the election returns; the woman says (translated from Tagalog) "Hello? Hello? Hello Garci? So, will I still lead by more than 1M (million)?"
Shortly after the scandal broke, Randy David, a nonpartisan columnist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, cited two excerpts from the Ong recording in an article. Sheila Coronel, of the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism, was able to decipher some of the garbled parts of the tape, which allegedly implicated Arroyo in the scandal. David analyzed the tapes using ethnomethodology and came to the same conclusions as did Coronel. His analysis described one of the speakers as a female coming across as a person speaking to her subordinate. Later, Arroyo acknowledged that it was her voice on the recording (Arroyo's "I'm Sorry" speech, 3.96MB MP3). However, no trial took place regarding Arroyo's intentions with her conversations in the recordings. According to Philippine law, both recordings are part of the public domain and are freely distributable.
In his editorial on June 12, 2005, for the Philippine Daily Inquirer,"'Hello, Garci? Hello, Ma'am'" by Randy David, INQ7.net, June 12, 2005. Randy David said,
"On the surface it does look like an innocent exchange. The key word here is "nagco-correspond" – a gloss that refers to the practice of fixing canvass results at, say, the provincial level so that they are not at variance with precinct election returns or statement of votes for municipalities. The other gloss is the question "Kumpleto?" This is not a harmless inquiry. Given the kind of response it elicits, it is an urgent demand to make sure the doctoring is done with care".
David described Arroyo's subordinate as a "man...not in the business of counting votes; he produces them."
Sheila Coronel described electoral fraud and the involvement of the independent watchdog group Namfrel. In her analysis, Coronel alleged that corruption was clearly evident. She also commented on the garbled portions of the tape, which were digitally enhanced for clarity. Allegedly, Arroyo whispered "Yung dagdag, yung dagdag" ("The addition, the addition"), implying fraud and mentioned Namfrel's sympathy for her. In her blog, she said,
"The conversations, after all, provide damning proof that Garcillano was, in the words of a Comelec official, "the plotter for electoral fraud, the overall supervisor and commander in chief" of the manipulation of the count in favor of the administration. The recording points to systemic and institutional fraud perpetrated by the Comelec. Does this mean that the President, by confirming her phone calls to the commissioner, also provided, albeit indirectly, a virtual confirmation of the fraud?"
Other evidence Rashma Hali, an electoral official from Basilan claims that Arroyo is related to a kidnapping operation. Michael Zuce claimed that he was present in an incident where Arroyo allegedly bribed officials from the Commission on Elections. Retired general Francisco Gudani claimed that he can prove military involvement in Arroyo's alleged acts of electoral fraud. Roberto Verzola, leader of the Philippine Greens and an IT expert, claimed that Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cheated and the citizens' election watchdog, National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) was involved. Jay Carizo, from the Institute for Popular Democracy, developed the election cheating indicators. Other sources claimed fraud in several other government positions, as well as the murder of political opponents by incumbents. There were eyewitness claims as well. Loren Legarda claimed that she had evidence of being cheated by Noli de Castro, who won the vice presidency in 2004.
Fraud techniques A new fraud technique involves manipulating the election return or ER, which is a summary of the votes in precincts. Evidence exists showing that the 32,000 sets of overprinted ERs of the Commission on Elections could manipulate an election by as much as three million votes. Such number of votes could change a result.
Effects on popular culture Lines from the Ong tapes became popular cellphone ringtones after they were made public, especially among the youth during the beginning of their school year in June. A ringtone of the Hello Garci greeting quickly became one of the most downloaded ring tones in the world."‘Hello Garci’ now world’s top ring tone" by Rio N. Araja, Manila Standard Today, June 24, 2005.
The scandal would also be referenced by television personality Joey de Leon during a publicized feud with fellow television personality Willie Revillame surrounding allegations of rigging on ABS-CBN's program WowoweeJoey jokingly called upon the Department of Trade and Industry to stop probing the Hello Garci scandal, and begin probing "Hello Pappy" instead, in reference to Willie's nickname.
Issues Accountability and legitimacy The evidence carried with it great consequences. The Ong tape were neutrally authenticated by foreign companies Uniquest (Australia) and Voice Identification (United States). Arroyo's spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, as well as the president herself, acknowledged that it was indeed Arroyo's voice. The protesting public insisted that the tapes and CDs proved electoral fraud, and that Arroyo cheated and rigged the 2004 elections. A sizable number of people wanted the results of the 2004 elections to be made invalid. The Supreme Court withheld judgment on the matter, refraining from actions toward invalidating the election. The administration said the Ong recordings were inadmissible in court, since the audio was taped without consent.