NOT ALL THAT VIDAL IS SAYING ARE LIES -- PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today rejected a call of some administration senators for an end to the Senate's inquiry into the "Hello Garci" controversy on the ground that they consider whistleblower, former T/Sgt Vidal Doble, as a "perjured witness" whose revelations about alleged administration efforts to rig the 2004 presidential election were "unreliable."

Pimentel disagreed with the claim of the administration senators that Doble's new testimony that he was a member of a military intelligence group that wiretapped the phone conversations of former Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other personalities during the 2004 elections carried little weight because it was inconsistent with his 2005 testimony denying he was a wiretapper.

"Doble may be a liar. But even liars do not tell lies all the time. The trick is for the investigators to know when the witness is telling a lie and when he is telling the truth," the minority leader said.

"For instance, Doble can explain why he colored his testimony with untruths when he testified before other forums. He should be given full opportunity to do that."

Commenting on Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago's contention that the courts have in a number of cases held that a retraction of testimony is exceedingly unreliable, Pimentel said that this is not true in all cases.

"The citations of Sen. Santiago are based on ruling case laws. They are valid under the circumstances obtaining in those cases."

During the first day of the reinvestigation into the wiretapping scandal Sept. 7, Doble testified that he was forced to lie in 2005 before an investigating panel of the House of Representatives, by denying he was involved in the wiretapping activities of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, because his wife, Arlene, and two children, were being held by the military at Camp Aguinaldo against their will.

Pimentel said that given the circumstances, there is a reasonable ground to believe Doble's assertion that he could not say what he wanted during the House of Representatives investigation because he was under duress.

Noting that the hearings on the wiretapping scandal will resume on Sept. 17 at 10:00 in the morning, with Doble being recalled to the witness stand, Pimentel said, "Now Doble should be allowed to cite circumstances that show that he is telling the truth."