Defensor’s audioman’s claims debunked
SHARTOU JUNKS TIONGCO’S CLAIM OF DAGDAG CHANGE

Sunday, 08 14, 2005

A day after Environment Secretary Michael Defensor presented the report of US forensic expert Barry Dickey's findings on what is perceived as a Malacañang manipulated tape to serve as a cover-up of the evidence of the crime of poll rigging, an audio engineer present in that telecast media conference went on television to debunk claims he was one of the audio engineers who had analyzed the tapes, stressing that he was not part of the press conference, but was merely invited for a meeting discussion by self-proclaimed audio expert Jonathan Tiongco, who is now being unmasked as a Palace man for hire in demolition jobs against the opposition.

Jim Shartou, during a television interview yesterday over ANC cable, also debunked Tiongco's claim that the words “yung dagdag, yung dagdag” (the padding, the padding) if played at slow speed would show that the words are “galvan at binagbag,” and played at high speed would then be heard as dagdag.

It was claimed by both Defensor and Tiongco, who has been found to be bereft of credentials, much less an audio engineering degree or expertise, that those words were digitally manipulated by the opposition to make it appear that President Arroyo held incriminating poll rigging conversations with fugitive election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and use this to topple her and her government.

Shartou said the words “yung dagdag,” said twice, whether played slowly or fast, would still be dagdag.

He stressed that when he went to Sulo Hotel, he thought he was being invited to a group discussion on the results of the analysis done by Dickey on the Garci tapes.

Sarthou said he has no political inclination and that he felt uneasy joining the event.

He added he distinctively heard the word dagdag in the “Hello Garci” tapes contrary to the statement of other sound engineers contacted by Defensor.

It was also found that Tiongco had approached jueteng witnesses Sandra Cam and Wilfredo “Boy” Mayor a few weeks ago, in an attempt at getting them to recant their statements against members of the presidential family.

Two other witnesses, Richard Garcia and Abe Riva, were also reportedly bought off by the Palace to claim that it was the opposition that forced them to link the presidential family to jueteng, yet also claimed that they would not recant their testimony.

They, however, also announced that they would not testify before an impeachment court.

Tiongco is also said to have been hired by Malacañang to ensure the witnesses' silence.

He has a string of cases against him.

On the appearance of Shartou and another sound engineer at the press conference, Defensor claimed it was not he, but Tiongco, who had put together the press conference, and claimed he was unaware that the Filipino audio engineers were not part of the Filipino group of sound specialists, as earlier claimed.

He, however, during the press conference which was televised, even had a screenboard claiming that a panel of Filipino experts had analyzed the tape and had the same conclusion as Dickey.

Shartou said it was the first time he heard those Defensor tapes. It was noted, during the press conference, that the audio engineers remained quiet while Tiongco did all the talking, including claiming that there was nothing in the tape where the President asked whether she would win by over one million votes, saying what she said was “Will FPJ win by a million votes?”

It was not explained, however, by either Tiongco or Defensor which tape had FPJ winning by a million votes, as this specific conversation does not exist in either the Bunye tapes, or the Paguia edited tapes, or the three-hour tape.

The opposition claimed, shortly after the Environment chief held his press conference, that this was yet another cover-up job by the Palace.

Last month Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye presented before media two tapes, one of which he claimed was the original which had Mrs. Arroyo in a conversation with her political officer, one Edgardo “Gary” Ruado, and a doctored compact disc, which had her talking to a poll commissioner.

It was quickly discovered that the claimed “original” was, in fact, altered through overdubs and splices by Malacañang, to cover up the evidence of poll rigging as directed by the President and implemented by Garcillano.

Minority members in both the House and the Senate challenged Defensor to have the three-hour tape submitted to Congress authenticated by an agreed-on foreign expert and if found to have been altered or spliced, the President should be made to resign.

For his part, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also yesterday said the administration' renewed claim that the Hello Garci tapes had been spliced and tampered with will no longer matter after Mrs. Arroyo had admitted that the woman's voice talking with an election official belongs to her.

Pimentel pointed out that the President, during her official response to the taped conversations on June 27 in which she also publicly apologized for her “lapse of judgment,” never disputed the authenticity of the tape, nor complained that any portion of the audio according had been altered to put her in a bad light.

He said Defensor was making an irrational conclusion by demanding that the impeachment case against the President be dropped on the basis of the alleged findings of Dickey that certain tracks of the tape had been doctored to make it appear that the President ordered the paddling of her votes in the 2004 presidential elections.

Pimentel argued that even if the President did not utter the word dagdag in the phone conversations and even if she has declined to acknowledge that Garcillano was on the other end of the line, this would not exonerate the President or lessen her culpability for her wrongdoing.

“Whether it's Garcillano or somebody else the President was talking with on the tape, the fact that she talked with a Comelec official about manipulating the results of the election is already a crime,” he said.

According to Pimentel, what is clear and undeniable is that when the President made those phone conversations with the Comelec official, there was no other intention except to subvert the electoral process.

For his part, San Juan Mayor Jose Victor “JV” Ejercito also yesterday described as a monumental blunder Defensor's wager that committed the President to resign if the “Hello Garci tape” is found to be authentic.

“Mike messed up big-time and is now in the same league as Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye. They have shot themselves in the foot, and have left Arroyo with no recourse but to resign, if there is a shred of self-respect left in her,” the mayor said, adding, “So what does that make of eager-beaver Mike Defensor? An amateurish peddler of tall tales and falsehood trying to cover up for the Mother of All Liars?”

Defensor misrepresented Tiongco as an audio analysis expert in his press conference at the Sulo Hotel last Friday even as the Commission on Appointments (CA) found Tiongco to be bereft of credibility and an accused in numerous crimes, including homicide and murder, when he testified against a Cabinet secretary during the latter's confirmation hearing.

JV also scored Defensor for putting words into the mouth of a supposed American audio expert since Dickey was clearly non-committal on his comments on the tape given him by Defensor.

“For all we know, Defensor, aided by that shady character Tiongco, may have been the ones who tampered with the tape they gave to this American,” the mayor said.

But Palace officials defended Defensor from the flak that came his way after the press conference, even as they distanced themselves from the fiasco the second time around.

Bunye and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Malacañang had nothing to do with Defensor's move, but also claimed there was nothing irregular or abnormal with the action taken by the Environment chief.

Bunye argued that Defensor had a point in presenting recording engineers to evaluate the tapes but contradicted himself when he claimed he was unaware of the details of Defensor's action.

Ermita said he could not deny that Defensor's motive is to straighten the issue which has been hounding the President for quite sometime.

“It is to be expected. Secretary Defensor is a member of the President's official family. He is just as concerned over the situation of the President,” Ermita added.

The Executive secretary said he is also unaware of the decision made by Defensor as he was not able to talk with him. “He just took the initiative on his own.” With Amita O. Legaspi and Tribune wires