Allies, foes dismiss 'Spice' turned 'Splice Boy's' report

First posted 01:21am (Mla time) Aug 13, 2005
By Philip C. Tubeza, Juliet Labog-Javellana
Inquirer News Service

THE TECHNICAL report presented yesterday by Environment Secretary Michael Defensor was dismissed as rubbish by lawmakers, including staunch administration stalwart Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay.

"He (Defensor) should be concentrating on the environment department's reforestation program instead of trying to prove himself as a sound expert," Pichay said.

Pichay also said Defensor's report had "no additional probative value" because lawyer Alan Paguia had already admitted to having edited the tapes he submitted to the House.

"In the first place, [investigating the authenticity of the tapes] is the work of the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation)," Pichay said. "It is not [Defensor's] job to do that."

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson stood by the findings of the Australia-based Uniquest Pty. Ltd. (UPL), which he had commissioned and which said the Paguia tapes were "authentic and unaltered."

Lacson said Defensor had submitted a "fake" tape, which was supposedly why the American expert Barry Dickey came out with his conclusion.

"They spliced it. If you submit garbage, the one authenticating it will find garbage. Garbage in, garbage out," Lacson said at a press conference.

Lacson also said the examination could not be accepted because Defensor submitted only two tracks of the 3-hour-long tape.

"The integrity of the tape [cannot be determined] if you submitted only tracks 3 and 4. You should submit the entire tape and CD in its entirety to have a forensic examination of whether it is spliced or doctored," he said.

He said he would submit to Dickey a copy of the tape he had sent to Dr. Brian Lovell of the UPL to get at the truth, and again challenged President Macapagal-Arroyo to resign if the Paguia tapes were proven authentic.

"If we submit similar tapes, both to Uniquest and Barry Dickey, they should have the same finding," Lacson said, adding:

"I challenge him (Defensor), if Mr. Dickey would come up with the same findings as Uniquest, can he ask the President to resign or step down?

"If the tape we sent to Australia would be found to have been spliced, edited or doctored, I am willing to go personally to Ms Arroyo and apologize to her. I'm even willing to talk to [San Juan] Rep. [Ronaldo] Zamora, the lead prosecutor, to talk to his colleagues in the House to withdraw the impeachment complaint."

'Muddling' the issue

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said Defensor's presentation was a poor attempt at muddling allegations of electoral fraud that were bolstered by the President's admission in late June that it was her voice on the tape.

"It is obvious that they are trying to confuse the meaning of the words that are uttered in the tape to reach out not only to the congressmen or women but also to the people at large," Pimentel said at a press briefing.

He added: "[Defensor's] announcement falls in line exactly with the lies the administration is peddling to cover up for the misdeeds of the President."

He also said Defensor and Jonathan Tiongco were making fools of the Filipino people: "All this talk about [the word] 'dagdag'-obviously, they are trying to stretch the tape even further to the irrational conclusion."

Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla, chair of the House inquiry into the tapes, said the chairs of the five committees conducting the investigation would meet on Monday and pursue the authentication of the tapes by a neutral and credible foreign government agency.

Remulla also said he considered Defensor's report to be biased.

'Parroting' terms

Alan Paguia himself said he was prepared to admit that he was mistaken if a foreign government agency proved that the tapes were fake.

"I am not an expert and neither is that guy (Defensor). He should just leave it to the sound scientists and not pretend that he is one," the lawyer said.

Paguia said Defensor's "parroting" of technical terms from the report did not give credence to its findings.

He observed that when asked whether it was the President's voice on tape, Defensor gave an ambiguous answer.

"That is not the way to deal with the truth," Paguia said. "The bad thing is the environment secretary is acting like a lawyer, when he is not, and is also trying to be a sound scientist, which he is not."

'Splice Boy'

Congressman Zamora agreed that Defensor should focus on his work as environment secretary.

"From Spice Boy to Splice Boy," Zamora said of Defensor, who was once one of a group of young congressmen who called themselves the "Spice Boys."

"We should just stop this business of making these foreign experts richer," Zamora said.

He noted that when the opposition came out with its own experts proving that its version of the tapes was authentic, the administration cast doubts on their findings.

"Remember, they were saying the same thing about us," he said. "They are now doing what they criticized then. We paid our experts; they paid their experts. It's the same thing."

Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez said Defensor's report was "dubious and incredible" and could be part of an administration cover-up.

Noting that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line, Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano said at a press conference: "Their shortcut is to never get there. In short, they want us to get lost. Truth is simple, so they added a merry-go-round to this circus."

Cayetano, spokesperson of the impeachment team, said Remulla had denied giving Defensor a copy of the Paguia tapes.

Thus, Dickey's findings would "naturally suit the client's agenda," Cayetano said, adding:

"It depends on what tapes were submitted. But why only now? And why is Secretary Defensor solo flight on this issue?"

2 months

Lacson wondered why Defensor or Malacañang waited two months before seeking an examination of the tapes.

"There's every reason to be skeptical. It took them more than two months. And there's a lot they could have done on the tape before they submitted it to Dickey," he said.

Pimentel said that contrary to the Palace's expectations, the presentation had only worsened Ms Arroyo's woes.

"No matter what they do, they are in effect making the situation more difficult for the President. Because no matter what they say, the President has already admitted that her voice was on the tape," he said.

Vindication

But House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said Dickey's findings had vindicated the administration's stance that the Paguia tapes should be "thrown out as evidence" in the impeachment proceedings against the President.

"The findings show the tape was tampered to implicate the President by splicing her voice conversations," Nograles said. He recalled that it had always been the administration's position that the recordings were "technologically spliced, tampered with, and doctored to suit the objective of those who seek to bring down the Arroyo government."

"The presentation of Secretary Mike Defensor seeks to illustrate how illegally obtained evidence can be made to appear destructive using available technology," he said.

With reports from TJ Burgonio and Michael Lim Ubac