The Hello Garci scandal (or just Hello Garci), also known as Gloriagate, was a political scandal and electoral crisis in the Philippines. The scandal involved former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who allegedly rigged the 2004 national election in her favor. The official results of the election gave Arroyo and Noli de Castro the presidency and vice-presidency respectively. Hundreds of national and local positions were also contested during this election. The scandal and crisis began in June 2005 when audio recordings of a phone call conversation between President Arroyo and then-Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, allegedly talking about the rigging of the 2004 national election results, were released to the public. This escalated when the minority of the lower house of Congress