Ilonggo 'audio expert' redeems credibility, fires back at Ping

By Ronilo L. Pamonag

A digital sound engineer whom Environment Secretary Michael Defensor presented to prove that the recordings linking President Arroyo and an election official to cheating were spliced has come out to redeem his questioned credibility.

“Sound engineering is an exact science. My credibility has no business in exact science. I only conclude on what I have discovered. What is important is what science says,” Jonathan Tiongco said during a press conference with the local media here Sunday noon.

He was reacting to statements made by opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson questioning his credibility. Lacson criticized Defensor for tapping the services of local audio experts with allegedly tainted reputations, alluding to Tiongco.

“I can be a liar and yet will still be true when I say that the world is round; and I can also tell Ping Lacson that when a big rock hits your head, your head will crack,” he stressed, as he insisted that the ‘Hello Garci' tape was spliced, as shown by variations in the background noise.

Tiongco also denied charges that he offered his testimony to Sandra Cam and Boy Mayor, witnesses who implicated Mrs. Arroyo and members of the First Family during a Senate inquiry on illegal gambling.

“I did not. Ganito yun, may kaibigan ako na kaibigan rin ni Mayor (This is what happened, I have a friend who is also a friend of Mayor),” Tiongco explained.

“What capacity do I have to do that?” he asked.

He admitted though that he approached Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez and offered his report. Apparently, Gonzalez paid him no attention.

“I approached Secretary Gonzalez because he's an Ilonggo,” he said, “but I didn't offer my services. Just my report.”

“You know in Manila, if you're nothing, they won't recognize. They would ask, ‘Sino yan? (Who's he?) ,' ” Tiongco said. At any rate, he added, he just left his report with Gonzalez during his visit to the latter last month.

Because of the attacks against his credibility, he said, his father, Lawyer Jose Tiongco, suffered a mild stroke, the reason why the Manila-based sound engineer traveled to Iloilo City.

The younger Tiongco said that he was told that his 83-year-old father fainted during a court hearing on hearing of the attacks against him Friday last week.

The older Tiongco, said to be a favorite among accused persons who have no money for the services of a private practitioner, is now recuperating at their home in Molo district.