Who can we trust now?

It’s understandable that Sen. Grace Poe used the Senate floor to denounce the electoral fraud during the 2004 presidential election which supposedly made President Gloria win over close rival Fernando Poe Jr., the senator’s father.

Poe recalled the purported phone conversation between then President Gloria and then Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano allegedly to rig the results of the election.

“Understandable” because it’s Poe’s filial duty to take up the cudgels for her late father who, many believe, was cheated of the presidency.

But even without the “Hello Garci” conversations between Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Garcillano, GMA would have won in that election, albeit by a smaller margin over FPJ.

Why?

Because FPJ, a neophyte politician, was up against a dyed-in-the-wool politician who learned the ropes as a child.

FPJ was an unwilling presidential candidate who avoided entertaining local leaders and ordinary people seeking to be photographed with him on the campaign trail.

Even a close friend of FPJ’s, who was always with him during the campaign, said he could not have won the 2004 election with his cavalier attitude towards ordinary people.

GMA, on the other hand, was generous with her smiles and handshakes and photo-ops while on the campaign trail even if she probably wasn’t sincere.

The macho FPJ showed irritation in public, even towards reporters covering him, and this was not lost on the voters.

How many times did the elder Poe scold a reporter on stage for him as he delivered his speech?

Many voters were turned off when their idol, whom they thought was the epitome of humility and patience, showed he was human after all.

That’s why in vote-rich Cebu city and province, GMA won over FPJ by more than 1 million votes.

The one-million vote margin would have upset the victories FPJ had over GMA in other provinces and cities.

* * *

To Poe and Mr. Aquino: Stop using your power to hound the ousted president, who’s already down and out.

You should be forgiving since both of you won because voters sympathized with you over your respective parents’ deaths.

* * *

“To my parents, brothers and sisters: I am very sorry. Hindi ko na kaya (I can’t bear it any longer). Don’t pity me. I am sorry for everything. I do not know what to do anymore. It’s a very big burden for me to handle all this. I love you very much. I am so sorry.  Love, Philip.”

Those were the words Ensign Philip Pestaño wrote in his suicide note.

The note was declared authentic by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), as well as the Western (Manila) Police District.

But Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and the Court of Appeals rejected the findings of suicide by the three law enforcement agencies.

Pestaño’s superiors  were later charged with murder for his death on the BRP Bacolod City in 1995.

If the Ombudsman and the appellate court don’t trust the findings of our law enforcement agencies in  a criminal case, who can we trust now?