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MANILA, Philippines (AFP) - A fugitive former election official has emerged briefly from hiding to deny charges he helped Philippines’ leader Gloria Arroyo cheat to win last year’s presidential elections.

To me it’s obvious that there was something weird going on in these elections. The corruption runs so deep in the politics of the Philippines (it’s even worse than Memphis), it’s not surprising that Glue-ria can hide this scandal in plain sight the way she has.

Virgilo Garcillano has been in hiding for almost six months after the opposition released audio tapes in June allegedly showing him and a woman who sounds like Arroyo conspiring to rig the elections.

“I swear there was no such thing as rigging in the last elections,” said Garcillano in an interview at an unknown location conducted by ABS-CBN television Sunday.

He’s been hiding with good reason too. Everyone wants him, in one way or another. It’s still not absolutely confirmed that he was the one talking to Glue-ria, but most people seem to think it was him.

Arroyo has apologized for a “lapse in judgment,” in speaking to an unnamed elections official before the votes were tallied but she has denied any cheating to win the May 2004 polls.

Her qualified apology sparked resignations of key cabinet members in July and a number of key allies including ex-president Corazon Aquino and some business leaders urged her to step down.

She’s got a lot more to apologize for, but I’m sure that won’t be forthcoming. I wonder how many pairs of shoes her husband owns.

Opposition legislators summoned Garcillano to testify against Arroyo in an impeachment case which she survived in September, but the former election official disappeared, possibly abroad, as soon as the tapes surfaced.

That and a few bribes spread out among the right Congressmen will get you off scot-free every time.

His whereabouts are still unknown.

And it better stay that way too if he doesn’t want to end up “dangling from the end of a rope under Blackfriar’s Bridge”…..

[Arroyo did not cheat, says election official - Yahoo! News]