So what did you expect?

Image hosted by Photobucket.comTwo days ago, former COMELEC Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano appeared in front of a Congressional hearing for the purpose of supposedly shedding light on allegations of cheating in the last elections.

Instead of clearing up the issue, he undoubtedly muddled it even further. Rather than provide answers to questions on everyone's mind, his testimony only served to create even more questions. It was very obvious that his was not being totally forthcoming, and that in all likelihood he was withholding information vital to the resolution of this controversy.

Despite being Garcillano's defensive stance, some of the more capable members of the House of Representatives were able to score some points off him, and seriously undermine his credibility as a witness...assuming of course, that he had any to begin with.

But after eight hours of arduous questioning, despite some victories here and there on the part of those congressmen examining him (like his shaky testimony on not having left the country, his misguided reliance on the sub judice principle, his inability to recognize his own voice, and almost being caught in Rep. Golez's trap of reading a few lines from the transcript of the wiretapped conversations to be used for voiceprint analysis) Garcillano patiently stuck to his guns and ended up on top, not yielding any more information than the public probably already knew before. Oh yes, his truthfulness and credibility were definitley shot down a lot of times, but it's not as if we already had our doubts regarding his reliability as a witness in the first place.

Of course, it's not over. The hearings will resume next week, and hopefully, the truth will come out. But probably not if Garcillano has anything to say about it.

Let us see what happens next.

In the meantime, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's approval ratings sink even further. Probably serves her right for making fools of the Filipino people.

Quaere Verum.

Links:

Now showing in Congress, a Garci gabfest
Garcillano goofed, says Pichay
Garci as diversion?

Comments

Ronald Allan said…
You know as well as I do that hypocrisy is a way of life in contemporary Filipino politics. :-)
December 10, 2005 10:44 AM
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