By Ronron
June 10, 2005
An investigation is on-going in the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP) following the leak of a taped conversation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regarding the 2004 Presidential elections.
Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Efren Abu said Friday the probe is being conducted internally because the ISAFP is always a suspect when it comes to wiretapping activities, even if there are other agencies capable of doing it as well.
“There is an investigation being done because these things are not only affecting the Armed Forces of the Philippines. It is affecting even the Office of the President… This is a serious matter,” Abu told reporters after a fellowship lunch he hosted with members of the press at Camp Aguinaldo as he is about to retire on June 24 when he reaches the mandatory age of retirement of 56.
The taped conversation was released early this week by Malacañang to preempt a similar move allegedly by a segment of the political opposition. The conversation shows Arroyo trying to manipulate the results of the 2004 polls to her favor. Arroyo won the polls over rival candidate Fernando Poe, Jr. by a margin of over one million votes.
Later in the afternoon yesterday, a former Intelligence official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) claimed that he has in his possession the “mother of all tapes.” Atty. Samuel Ong said he got it from agents of the ISAFP whom he made friends with long before while he was still in the government.
Ong challenged officials to immediately go to the ISAFP quarters inside Camp Aguinaldo to check the missing tapes.
But the AFP Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence was quick to deny Ong’s claims. Rear Admiral Tirso Danga, in a hastily called and conducted press briefing, said: “There is no missing tape. And we are not keeping any tape because it is not our job to wire-tap.”
ISAFP chief Brig. Gen. Marlu Quevedo, in a separate interview over the phone, assured that all of their tapes are safely in their hands. He said they do not need to conduct an inventory of the tapes because every thing is in tact.
“Every time tapes like that come out, the suspect is ISAFP. But we believe that it is not only ISAFP that has the capability to produce that kind of tape because anybody can have a recording,” Abu said.
“That is why we are investigating these reports … so that ISAFP can also be cleared if we found out that the report is not true,” he added.
The military chief said he has not personally asked Quevedo whether the tape was really from the ISAFP as he leaves everything to the investigation which is being headed by Danga.
Abu also denied relieving Quevedo or restricting men of the ISAFP within their compound pending the completion of said investigation.
“We have not given any orders to that effect,” Abu said.
He refused to say whether or not he has already identified a replacement for Quevedo, citing confidentiality, following a statement from Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita that Commodore Leonardo Calderon will take over Quevedo’s post sometime this month.
“I still have not made an official communication with Malacañang,” Abu said when asked if he has submitted his recommendations already for Quevedo’s possible replacement.
Reports of Quevedo’s relief surfaced after ISAFP was cited as initial suspect in the leakage of Arroyo’s taped conversation. /DMS
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