Ombudsman pins perjury rap on Virgilio Garcillano

Former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) on Tuesday finally indicted former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano for allegedly presenting spurious documents and lying under oath during a congressional hearing on the infamous “Hello Garci” scandal involving former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, in 2004.

The OMB found probable cause to charge Garcillano with perjury in a resolution approved on March 18 by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

The case stemmed from the complaint filed in January 2012 by then party-list Representatives Neri Colmenares and Teddy Casiño (Bayan Muna) against Garcillano for allegedly falsely testifying under oath and presenting a spurious passport during a congressional joint committee hearing in December 2005.

The “Hello Garci” controversy arose after audio recordings of a telephone conversation emerged in 2005. The conversation, presumed to have been between Garcillano, who was then a commissioner of the Commission on Elections, and Arroyo, a reelectionist presidential candidate, is thought to have occurred at the time the results of the 2004 elections were still being tallied.

Transited in Singapore

Morales agreed that Garcillano made “a deliberate and willful assertion of a falsehood” during the congressional hearing when he testified that he never left the Philippines after the “Hello Garci” controversy broke.

The Ombudsman resolution said that an Aug. 31, 2005, note verbale issued by the Singapore foreign ministry confirmed that Garcillano “transited in Singapore on 14 July 2005 on board a Learjet 35 with the registration number RP-C-1426” and “departed Singapore on 15 July 2005 onboard Singapore Airlines Flight SQ 320.”

It said that Garcillano took his oath before Rep. Emmylou Talino-Santos, “a competent officer authorized to administer oaths,” at the start of the congressional hearing, as evidenced by the transcript of stenographic notes.

The resolution said the OMB also found Garcillano to have violated the passport law when he presented a forged passport before the congressional hearing.

It cited a laboratory examination report from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas dated March 20, 2006, that concluded that Garcillano’s passport did not conform to the standard.

The passport was found to contain these signs of forgery: A smaller-size booklet; variance in the paper and print used on the inside front and back covers; additional stitching along the seam; presence of cuts and joints along the seam; presence of the text “Bisa-Visa” on the upper portion, and variance in the print quality of certain texts on page 32.

Presumed forger

Garcillano, being in possession of the forged passport and the one to benefit from its presentation to the congressional joint committee, is “presumed to be a forger,” the OMB said.

However, it dismissed the charge of falsification by a public officer because the element of “taking advantage of [an] official position” was not present.

Although he was a public officer, Garcillano acted “not by reason of his office, his position as Comelec commissioner not having anything to do with the issuance of a passport,” the OMB said.—Cynthia D. Balana