Goodbye, Garci

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brilliantes had some pretty astonishing things to say the other day.

He won’t be preoccupied with the “Hello, Garci” case, he said. “Hindi iyan ang priority ko. Wala pa naman ako dito nung nangyari iyan.” (That’s not my priority. I wasn’t here yet when that happened.) What he means to do instead is clean up the house and institute reforms in time for the next elections. “Ang priority ko: Ano ba ang plano? Ano ang mangyayari sa Comelec? Hindi yung nakaraan kundi yung dumarating.” (My priority is: What is our plan? What will happen to the Comelec? My concern is not what’s behind us but what’s in front of us.”)

Brilliantes made these remarks after his appointment was deferred for a second time by the Commission on Appointments upon the objections of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano. Cayetano wanted to know what he was doing with the “Garci boys” –Virgilio Garcillano’s protégés who helped him mount the cheating in 2004 – who not only are still with the Comelec but have gotten promoted there. Chief of them ARMM regional director Ray Sumalipao.

“Bakit daw promoted si Sumalipao? Malay ko. Panahon pa yata ni Chairman (Resurreccion) Borra. Anong gagawin ko? Andiyan na siya e. Wala namang ginagawa. Anong gusto nila? Tanggalin ko dahil sa assumption na Garci boy siya?” (They’re asking why Sumalipao has been promoted. How should I know? I think that happened way back during Borra’s time. What can I do? He’s already there. And he’s not doing anything wrong. What do they want? I should kick him out on the assumption he is a Garci boy?)

Well, if that’s the quality of his thinking, then he truly ought to have his appointment deferred indefinitely. Or better still, P-Noy ought to remove him posthaste from a position he does not deserve.

Can anything be more inane than saying “Hello, Garci” is not your priority because it happened before your time? The Maguindanao Massacre happened before Leila de Lima’s time too. So what is Brilliantes saying, she should not consider it a priority as well because of that? There is no statute of limitations on the murder of innocents, particularly a massacre of the scale and ferocity with which it was done. And it is the job of the justice secretary above all to see that justice is done. There is no statute of limitations on the slaughter of democracy, particularly given the deliberateness and viciousness with which it was done. And it is the job of the Comelec head above all to see that justice is done.

Justice first of all to the Comelec itself.

Cayetano’s objections are by no means unreasonable. What is the job of the Comelec? The job of the Comelec is to ensure fair and clean elections, a job it has largely failed to do in the past, earning for itself only a reputation for ensuring rigged and dirty elections. The worst of it coming during Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s time, when she brazenly called up a Comelec commissioner, Virgilio Garcillano, to demand that she win over her nearest rival by a million votes. You harbor the same snakes in your house, and even promote them, how can you possibly do your job? A job not quite incidentally that takes on urgent meaning in light of P-Noy’s promise to end corruption in this country. Can anything be more corrupt than stealing the vote?

Of course, we don’t want Brilliantes to boot out Sumalipao and company on the mere assumption that they are Garci boys. But if he makes investigating “Hello, Garci” a priority, if he makes ferreting out who exactly helped Garci – and Benjamin Abalos – wreak the worst political crime in this country in the 21st century a priority, he won’t be booting them out on mere assumption, he’ll be booting them out on stout certainty.

What makes his statement that he wants to put the past behind him and look only ahead at the future especially pathetic is that this year marks the 150th birthday of Jose Rizal, the one person especially noted for saying, “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makakaratiing sa pinatutunguhan.” How can you possibly assure a bright future for the Comelec if you cannot correct its murky past?

Brilliantes’ priority is, “Ano ang mangyayari sa Comelec?” Easy to answer. With the kind of blindness he’s showing, it is headed for disaster.

Justice second of all to the country.

At the very least justice for Fernando Poe Jr., the person “Hello, Garci” robbed of the presidency. There’s no statute of limitations either, or shouldn’t be, on a candidate being proclaimed winner long after his term has gone, or even long after he is dead. FPJ deserves to be known as the president who never was, and Arroyo only the president who should never have been.

While at that, enough of that idiocy that Arroyo might actually have won as president despite “Hello, Garci.” “Hello, Garci” was a crime to end all electoral crimes. Her commission of it should never have sent her to Malacañang, it should have sent her to Muntinlupa. Never too late to rectify a mistake, and the Comelec should be taking the lead in it.

At the very most justice for everybody else, especially the victims of the killings, who were the hundreds of political activists massacred just to keep Arroyo in power. “Hello, Garci” was the original sin, all the other sins of the Arroyo regime flowed from it. The lying, the cheating, the stealing and the murders flowed from it. It was the illegitimacy of the regime that compelled the illegality of its actions. It was the fakeness of the rule that compelled the viciousness of its actions. The Comelec may not move on without rectifying the past, government may not move on without cleansing the present, this country may not move on without guaranteeing a future free of frauds.

We don’t say goodbye to Garci we’ll never say hello to Grace.