PRESS STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN ROILO GOLEZ Congressman Roilo Golez, 2nd District of Parañaque City 15 June 2005
PRESIDENT MUST SPEAK AND LEVEL WITH THE PEOPLE

The audiotape in this wiretapping case is like a corpse with a bullet wound discovered in the residence of a public official when a team of policemen barged in without a search warrant.

The public official can claim that the corpse cannot be used against him in a judicial hearing because the corpse was discovered and obtained without a search warrant and therefore inadmissible as evidence.

That may be true, but the public official would not be able to escape the political repercussions once the discovery of the corpse in his residence becomes public knowledge due to the unavoidable media coverage.

The President can say that she does not wish to comment on an illegally obtained wiretap. From the legal point of view, that may be correct. But since the voice sounds like her voice and this was earlier confirmed by the Press Secretary, I believe that she must now make a statement on this and level with the people.

This will save us in the House committees tasked to inquire on the wiretapping case the trouble and the anguish of establishing what is authentic or not, which could delay the proceedings.

I am concerned that no one of us in the committees is in a position to determine what is authentic or not, from the voices to the entirety of the audiotapes. There must be full authentication as a few words of alteration could alter the meaning of the entire tape and mislead the committees.

If authentication becomes necessary, I will propose that the FBI, Scotland Yard or another objective foreign agency handle the authentication. It cannot be the NBI or any Philippine government body as that would trigger more questions than answers. It cannot be a private group as there would also be questions there.

And since the Rear Admiral Tirso Danga apparently has plenty to explain since ISAFP has become the focus of inquiry on who did the wiretap, I urge Admiral Danga to go on leave so there will no suspicion that he is unduly interfering in the investigation. As J-2, he still occupies a powerful position that could influence the inquiry within and outside the AFP. The same applies to all those in ISAFP who may have had a hand in the reported wiretapping.

Even before he goes on leave, Admiral Danga should be immediately relieved by his superiors to allay any fears that there may be some whitewash within the AFP. If the AFP leadership does not do that, a shadow of doubt could also be cast on them.