(Daily Tribune)

Speaker Jose de Venecia yesterday subpoenaed Smart and Globe telecommunications firms, ordered them to release the telephone records of President Arroyo and the missing former Commission on Elections (Comelec) officer Virgilio Garcillano. This is in connection with the House wiretapping hearings on the calls made by Mrs. Arroyo to the poll official.

In a two page subpoena, De Venecia asked Globe and Smart to submit before the House committee on defense and security, information communications technology and suffrage and electoral reforms cellphone billing records of Mrs. Arroyo and Garcillano for the period May to June 2004.

The documents will be used for analysis and authentication on the date, time and place of the calls made by both the President and the poll official.

The two telecommunications firms are expected to bring the billing records on Aug. 29 in time for the resumption of the joint hearing on the wiretapping controversy.

Also, the Speaker issued the final subpoena to former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Deputy Director Samuel Ong, reportedly in possession of the mother of all tapes containing the conversation between Mrs. Arroyo and Garcillano last year. De Venecia signed the final subpoena to Ong, asking him to appear on Monday's hearing.

De Venecia, however, cautioned the former NBI official to appear at the hearing otherwise the House will be forced to issue an arrest warrant against him.

Earlier, the committees issued an arrest warrant against Garcillano for continually defying invitations and subpoenas issued by the body.

They also ordered the Bureau of Immigration (BI)

and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to issue hold a departure order against the former poll official and to cancel his passport.

Both Garcillano and Ong's testimonies before the committees are material to the investigation conducted.

In a related development, an administration lawmaker yesterday admitted that Mrs. Arroyo has transformed herself into a telephone brigade these past few days, apparently to urge them to junk the impeachment complaint but claimimg she simply wants to get their pulse on the case.

Administration congressman Surigao del Sur Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said he himself received a call from the Chief Executive last week to get his comment on the impeachment complaint.

The President also sought Barber's view regarding moves to amend the 18-year-old Constitution which she earlier certified as one of the most important bills that Congress should consider this year.

“In fairness to the President, she did not seek compassion. Neither did she ask me to vote against the impeachment complaint,” Barbers said.

“She just asked my position on the impeachment complaint and moves to amend the Constitution,” the congressman, who is one of the administration legislators who signed the impeachment complaint, said.

Barbers said he wondering why Mrs. Arroyo had called him and even other members of the House at this crucial time when she knew is her call might be seen as a form of muscle-flexing to make moves to impeach her futile.

In his conversation with Mrs. Arroyo, Barbers said he told her there are some members of the administration who are now into “testing-the-waters” on the issue on whether to push the amended impeachment complaint being pushed by the members of the opposition.

Echoing Barber's revelation, a female member of the House also admitted having received a similar call from Mrs. Arroyo after getting first a call from a colleague.

The legislator, who requested not to be identified, said the President asked her what her plans are in relation to the impeachment case.

She was quick to add that the President did not directly ask her to junk the complaints the moment the house would have to decide on the matter.

On Monday, members of the opposition revealed how the President interfered in the impeachment process by making calls to the members of the House who will be deciding on her fate.

The President and other Malacañang officials, including local government officials have been “pesfering” members of the House with calls asking about the impeachment.

It is believed these calls are being made with corresponding offers.

Barbers and the lady legislator insisted that when they received the calls, they heard no offer made by the President.

Meanwhile, the DFA yesterday said Garcillano, who allegedly orchestrated the cheating operations in Mindanao to ensure victory for the President, may be in Malaysia.

DFA spokesman Gilberto Asuque said they received the information from the committee in the House of Representatives investigating the alleged election fraud in the May 2004 elections that Garcillano is in the Southeast Asian country.

“The DFA received today a letter from Congress asking assistance to verify reports he's in New Jersey and Malaysia. In their letter they asked the DFA to help locate him in these two countries. The DFA acted promptly on the matter,” Asuque said.

He said the DFA immediately instructed its officials at the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to coordinate with authorities there to find the missing poll official.

“The information has been relayed to our post and we are waiting for their response as soon as they verified this,” Asuque told a press briefing.

DFA insiders, however, believe the poll official could have been issued either a diplomatic or official passport under a different name and was assisted by Philippine Embassy officials in Singapore to secure a visa to another country.

Garcillano made a one-day stopover in Singapore last July 14 before flying to his next destination. But sources said it is possible that Garcillano is just traveling around Asean countries, where a visa is not required.

Asuque said the DFA “presumed” that Garcillano used the regular passport to leave the country.

Sources said it is easy to obtain either passport for a certain official and have it revalidated, especially if there are orders from Malacañang.

He added that consulate officials in New York, which have jurisdiction over New Jersey, have begun their search for Garcillano.

“They are now looking for the address of Garcillano's daughter and they said they will immediately relay the information to us,” Asuque said.

To rub out the impression that the DFA is involved in a cover up to hide Garcillano, Asuque assured Congress of the department's cooperation in finding the elections officer and to provide them necessary information or leads on his whereabouts.

Dona Policar and Michaela P. del Callar