Reaction Paper on Hello Garci Tape Wiretapping Issue

The electoral fraud issue on last 2004 election has proven an obvious breach in the national security. The tape evidence presented by Samuel Ong, former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy director for intelligence, contained a conversation between the former President Arroyo and Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

Having analyzed the content of the said conversation, proven and admitted by the former president that the voice was hers, somehow confirmed the point of manipulation of the count in favor of the administration , perpetrated by the COMELEC However, even with the evidences, with the public apology made by the former president herself, and with the possible outcomes known, still no final course of action was taken to resolve GMA’s legitimacy or so to prevent electoral fraud. This is only due to the fact that the ‘original tape’ has not been authenticated by the anonymous wiretapper.

If I may put my two cents in, our election system is just so full of dirty tricks. No one gets caught or punished also because of the flaws in the Philippine law and electoral rules. The fraudulent electoral system has been the way of the cheaters to win, and with their get away schemes comes the delayed progress of the country. Most are often suspicious of the winners and it is not a surprise that people generally doubt their leaders. If the leader is successful of curtailing the truth, what more can people expect of its underlings?

Along with this, it is only imperative that electoral reforms be pushed through the senate or the country will continue to suffer from recurrence of such scandals and crisis. After the sprung of the aforementioned issue, wiretapping became a major contributor on certain issues from the government. Some of which are those that involve Chair Benjamin Abalos and Jose de Venecia III in connection with the $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) contract, and Cheche Lazaro’s wiretapping case filed by the GSIS.

The latter however in opinion of the many, was only one of the attempts by government agencies to silence the media through harassment and intimidation. None of the aforementioned issues that involve wiretapping has been resolved. It is just poignant that people find no justice in the wrongdoings of those in high power. Seemingly, in most cases our own system constricts punishments of those guilty personnel, only allowing recurrence of such events. If only our country IS or WILL be able to make a change for the greater good, those types of cases will not be dismissed without fair justice.