"No problem if Hello Garci tape is aired in public" – Esperon

By Ronron
February 18, 2008

Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. finds no problem with the public airing of the so-called "Hello Garci" tapes, which some sectors say is a proof of the alleged 2004 electoral fraud.

In an interview Monday at Camp Aguinaldo, Esperon said he is not afraid if the Supreme Court rules on the public airing of the alleged wiretapped conversations purportedly by some officials, including him, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, because it will not make him liable for anything.

"Yeah, it can be aired. I don't have to be vindicated from such. If you just read against what was, or go through the transcript, you will see that they were accusing me of relieving, having a hand in the relief of a brigade commander. As chief of operations, J3, I had nothing to do with relieves," Esperon said.

The Supreme Court said last week that warnings of the National Telecommunications Commission and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to the media against airing the "Hello Garci" tapes constitute "prior restraint" to freedom of expression and of the press.

The high tribunal said the airing of the tapes should be upon the media's judgment call.

Esperon the SC ruling does not matter much anyway because "everybody in town knows what's in the tapes."

"I don't know if that should have any effect on us," he said, adding that nor should it fuel the current political tension brought about the by the expose of Rodolfo "Jun" Lozada, Jr. over the alleged irregular awarding of the National Broadband Network (NBN) project to China's ZTE Corporation last year.

Esperon said the investigations of various bodies on the NBN issue should just be allowed to proceed and their results to come out.

The "Hello Garci" tapes caught the conversation purportedly of Arroyo and Garcillano days after the May 10, 2004 Presidential elections wherein Arroyo allegedly wants to make sure she gets a one million vote margin against close rival Fernando Poe, Jr./DMS