Manila: The Supreme Court has allowed the broadcast of a recorded conversation of President Gloria Arroyo with an election official soon after the 2004 elections.
The opposition has long complained that the conversation was proof that Arroyo had cheated to secure a six-year term four years ago, a senior official said.
"I called up Supreme Court Justice Antonio Nachura and he said the voting (on the petition to officially allow the airing of the wiretapped conversation of the president) was 9-6 (in favour of the petition)," said Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.
The high court's ruling did not preclude the government from filing a case for violation of the country's anti-wiretapping law, Gonzales explained.
The court, he said, favoured a petition filed by former solicitor general Francisco Chavez who said that a wiretapped conversation could be aired if it involved an issue of national interest.
Comment reserved
However, Supreme Court spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez did not comment, saying the Apex Court would disclose its ruling on the petition tomorrow.
"The Justices will submit their respective opinions on Friday, after which the final voting will be determined," Marquez said.
An online report by the Newsbreak newspaper said that those who voted in favour of Chavez's petition were Chief Justice Reynato Puno and Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Antonio Carpio, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Angelina Gutierrez, Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Adolfo Azcuna and Ruben Reyes.
Earlier, the National Telecommunications Commission had warned that television and radio stations would lose their licences for airing the tapes, which were called Hello, Garci, in reference to former Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano who was Arroyo's alleged phone pal at the time. She was heard asking about her lead over her rival, the late actor Fernando Poe Jr, after the 2004 polls.
Arroyo admitted that her conversation with Garcillano was a "lapse in judgment" but denied that she asked the election official to favour her. In 2005, former National Bureau of Investigation director Samuel Ong released the tape, saying it was given to him by an agent of the Intelligence Services of the armed forces who participated in wiretapping Arroyo.