Circumstantial evidence

By Churchill Aguilar

Mirriam-webster.com defines circumstantial evidence as evidence that tends to prove a fact by proving other events or circumstances which afford a basis for a reasonable inference of the occurrence of the fact at issue.

Now let me present to you a circumstantial evidence that caught my attention during the first presidential debate that was held in Oro. The former elections commissioner, Virgilio Garcillano, was seen in the lobby of a hotel where Jejomar Binay and Grace Poe were staying.  When asked why he was there, he said he is working as a consultant but declined to identify whom. He could only have two possible employers as circumstances suggest, i.e., any of the presidentiables that stayed in the hotel.

However, we all know that Poe’s father, the famous FPJ, lost the presidential elections due to the alleged rigging of the ballots purportedly by Garcillano in favor of Gloria Arroyo. It is therefore very much unlikely that she would hire the very man who caused a great injustice to their family and to our nation. The other possible employer who was also staying at the said hotel however has a tarnished reputation for being so corrupt and was known to resort to anything just to get things done. Now that is a more probable angle.

Should we be alarmed? But of course. Let me remind those who forgot the “Garci” scandal with the transcript of a phone conversation between the then President  Gloria Arroyo and Virgilio Garciliano which I dug from a PDI editorial, and it says; “Hello./ Hello, Ma’am, good morning. OK, Ma’am, mas mataas ho siya pero mag-compensate po sa Lanao ’yan./ So will I still lead by more than 1M overall?/ More or less, but it is still an advantage, Ma’am. Parang ganun din ang lalabas/ Oo, pero it will not be less than 1M?/ Pipilitin ho natin yan. Pero, as of the other day, 982./ Kaya nga eh/ And then, if we can get more in Lanao./ Hindi pa ba tapos?/ Hindi pa ho. Meron pa hong darating na seven municipalities/ Ah, OK, OK. /Sige po./ OK, OK, OK.”

Adding insult to injury was the fact that while he was not charged accountable for what could be the second greatest injustice to our country next to martial law, he now moves freely like he has not done anything wrong to our country at all. Circumstantial evidence may not necessarily bring a conviction, but at least it is a prima facie for due process to take place. And with all the brilliant minds we have in our country, not one filed a formal complaint about him, not one.

And because, we let him get away with it, he now even has the nerve to show up and shake hands with esteemed dignitaries suggesting that what he did was normal and acceptable. And that’s my biggest worry, because from the looks of it, election fraud has already become normal and acceptable.

Pagkaluoy sa pobreng pinoy.