DFA stands by Singapore report Garcillano was there

First posted 01:43am (Mla time) Dec 16, 2005
By Nikko Dizon
Inquirer

THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS yesterday said it was standing by the integrity of the Singapore government's report that former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano stopped in the city-state en route to a third country on July 14 at the height of the "Hello Garci" controversy.

The DFA position was disclosed by its spokesperson, Gilberto Asuque, amid an allegation by Sen. Panfilo Lacson that a police officer had manufactured the passport that Garcillano's lawyer submitted on Wednesday to the House inquiry into the wiretapping scandal, ostensibly to disprove the Singapore report.

The officer, Senior Supt. Asher Dolina, head of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Metro Manila, denied Lacson's charge.

The 68-year-old Garcillano came out of hiding on Dec. 4 after five months on the run following disclosures of a wiretapped conversation purportedly between him and President Macapagal-Arroyo. He said he was in the country all the time, reading and writing his memoirs.

On Wednesday, Garcillano's lawyer submitted his two passports--one expired and the other current--to five House committees looking jointly into the wiretapping controversy that led to an unsuccessful attempt in Congress to impeach Ms Arroyo over claims the recordings showed the President stole last year's election.

The current passport did not show that Garcillano had travelled abroad recently, lawmakers said.

Asuque told reporters that the DFA had an "obligation to maintain and stand by the integrity of a note verbale," saying "it is the primary means of communication between two sovereign nations."

Singapore immigration report
The Singapore foreign ministry transmitted the diplomatic note in August to the DFA upon the latter's request for information on Garcillano. The note said that Garcillano had arrived in Singapore on July 14 on board a chartered Learjet from Manila and had left the following day for an undisclosed destination.

"Both countries appreciate the integrity of a note verbale. We have to stand by its integrity because we ourselves issue note verbales," Asuque told the Inquirer in a separate interview.

Asuque said that in the Garcillano issue, the note verbale was based on the information provided by the Singapore Checkpoints Authority, the city-state's immigration office.

He said that passengers of all private, chartered or commercial flights submit a disembarkation card upon arrival in a country, such as Singapore, and an embarkation card before leaving.

"Both cards are accompanied by the person's passport to match the information on the card and the passport," he explained.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez also had said that Singapore's diplomatic note was "an "impeccable document ... indubitable" and that Garcillano could be held for perjury.

Lacson said in a statement yesterday that Dolina had "manufactured" the Garcillano passport to conform with his claim that he never left the country. Lacson said he was still investigating how Dolino did this.

Lacson said the tampered passport exposed a high-level conspiracy to protect Ms Arroyo at the expense of diplomatic ties with Singapore.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Dolina said that if there was anyone in his organization who could be suspected of siding with Lacson, "it should be me." He said his uncle, retired Gen. Gregorio Dolina, became a regional commander because of Lacson.

"In deference to my uncle, I do not want to say anything against General Lacson," he said. "I really don't want any part in it ... The issue of Garcillano's passport is beyond me."

Dolina said a passport was a "delicate thing" that had distinct security features. "It cannot be manufactured. But ask the DFA how it is made. I don't know much about it," he said.

Passport verification
Domingo Lucenario, acting assistant secretary for consular affairs, said the DFA could examine Garcillano's passport for authenticity.

"We have a way of checking the passport if it is really a document issued by us," Lucenario told the Inquirer.

"If it's possible for us to get hold of the passport, we could make use of the laboratory facilities of the Central Bank of the Philippines," he said. "I would think it won't take that long to examine it."

According to Lucenario, DFA records showed that a passport was issued to Virgilio Olivar Garcillano Jr. on Feb. 11, 2002, by the DFA regional office in Cagayan de Oro City.

Garcillano's passport number was JJ 243816.

Lucenario said that tampering with a passport, an official document, was punishable under the Philippine Passport Law.

He also said that Garcillano had not been issued a valid official passport, also known as the "red passport" used by government officials.

Ebdane vehicle
Also yesterday, Public Works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane said he did provide a vehicle for Garcillano, but claimed that was when the latter was still with the Commission on Elections and he was the PNP chief.

Ebdane said he learned of a threat against Garcillano and informed the latter, who was then in Subic, about it and sent a vehicle to remove him from the place.

He added that, fortunately, Garcillano was transferred to another place before the threat could materialize.

Ebdane declined to answer when asked if he had lent his vehicle to Garcillano when he went into hiding. "I haven't heard about that. Maybe it would be good if we would only answer if we know the specific thing he said," he told reporters in an ambush interview.

Ebdane was linked to Garcillano earlier when former Sen. Francisco Tatad alleged that the DPWH secretary helped the former election commissioner go into hiding.