Mother of all Tapes

MANILA Â? Samuel Ong, former deputy chief of the National Bureau of Investigation surfaced June 10 to claim he has Â?the mother of all tapesÂ? allegedly showing President Macapagal-Arroyo fixed last yearÂ?s elections. He said the wiretap tapes were given to him by friends in the military intelligence service.

	Ong appeared at an evening news conference at a swank Makati club called by the opposition. It coincided with the announcement by Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Efren Abu over lunch with reporters that the military intelligence arm, ISAFP, is under investigation in connection with the wiretapping allegations. “This is a serious matter,” Abu said, but he declined to say who among the Isafp staff are under investigation. “Everyone is a suspect,” he said. On June 8, Malaca±ang announced that ISAFP chief Brig. Gen. Marlu Quevedo had been sacked. No explanation was made.
Immediately after the revelation, Ong sought refuge at a Catholic seminary after police attempted to arrest him. Looking woozy and saying he had been sleepless the last five days since the bizarre tales of the tapes emerged, Ong said he came out because he felt his life was in danger and thought he should let the people know they were robbed in the last elections. He called on Ms Arroyo to resign. “I am calling on Susan Roces because this tape would show that her husband was cheated," Ong said, referring to the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. who lost to Ms Arroyo. Opposition politicians broadcast appeals before the news conference for supporters to mass at the Makati club, but only several hundred showed up by nightfall. Ong waved before a packed crowd of reporters one of what he said were four “master tapes” given to him by an ISAFP agent. He said the three other tapes were “in the hands of worthy brothers.” Ong said the tapes contain the wiretapped telephone conversation between Ms Arroyo and Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. Garcillano has denied his is the voice of the male speaker in the wiretap. Malaca±ang and Alan Paguia earlier this week released CDs containing the alleged telephone wiretaps purportedly showing that Ms Arroyo was pressing for a one-million vote election victory. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said release of the tapes was part of an opposition plot to destabilize Ms Arroyo’s administration. “This tape is the mother of all tapes circulating since Monday,” Ong said, waving a cassette. He said the tape contains the hacked telephone conversation and challenged authorities to make an inventory of ISAFP files and they will know that four master tapes are missing. Asked about Ong’s statement, Rear Adm. Tirso Danga, deputy chief of staff for intelligence, said there are no missing tapes in ISAFP. “Wiretapping is not part of our job,” he said. Then just as reporters were beginning to throw their questions, Danga walked out of the room and left on board his van. “If I won’t come out with the truth, I pity the Filipino,” Ong said. Ong said he was not part of any political affiliation, though he was surrounded by opposition personalities during the press conference at the Metroclub in Makati City, often used by United opposition in its assemblies and meetings. Saying his revelation may cost him his life, Ong sought the protection of the Church for his safety. “Now that I have come out, I am dead meat. They could do everything to me, and worse, they could even kill me," said Ong. After answering a few questions, Ong was whisked away by opposition politicians in a dark green van. As his vehicle drove out of Metroclub’s gates, some 200 opposition supporters cheered and chanted a call for Ms Arroyo to resign. After he disappeared, news reports said that Ong had holed up at the San Carlos Seminary on Edsa. Several dozen politicians went to the seminary, along with reporters, but none of the opposition spokespersons were able to confirm Ong’s presence there.