Face probe, Aquino’s opposition contacts told

Administration lawmakers dared yesterday the opposition personalities involved in the espionage case against cashiered police colonel Michael Ray Aquino and suspended US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intelligence analyst Leandro Aragoncillo to clear their names in a proper venue.

Instead of denying their involvement through the media, Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella said the people who had admitted receiving information from the alleged spy ring should submit themselves to investigation.

"Media is not the proper forum for them to clear their names. The more they deny involvement, the more the public becomes interested," he said.

Puentevella pointed out opposition Senators Panfilo Lacson and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. have admitted receiving e-mail messages from Aragoncillo, apparently as forwarded by Aquino, which supposedly contain classified information from the FBI on Philippine government affairs.

Both had claimed the material they received was not sensitive, since the information had already appeared in Philippine newspapers and other media outfits.

Former President Joseph Estrada also admitted having known Aragoncillo.

Estrada said Aragoncillo had visited him at Malacañang and later at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City where he was initially detained while facing plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Benasing Macarambon said those who have been linked to the spy ring should prove their innocence before the courts.

Macarambon said those involved might have to prove their innocence before the US courts.

"An outright denial does not mean innocence," he said. "That is for the US court and other legal fora to determine."

US authorities said a former and two incumbent Philippine government officials have been recipients of classified information from Aquino and Aragoncillo.

The FBI said Aragoncillo allegedly printed or downloaded 101 classified documents related to the Philippines and relayed it to Aquino.

Aquino was an aide of Lacson while he was the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief under Estrada.

After being implicated in the kidnap-slay of public relations man Salvador "Bubby" Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000 and the subsequent downfall of Estrada early in 2001, Aquino went into hiding in the US.

Aragoncillo had been providing the classified information to Aquino who in turn relayed them to the three top Philippine officials, US officials said.

Macarambon added that among the classified files allegedly stolen by Aragoncillo could be the April 2005 report of former US Embassy Charge d’ Affaires Joseph Mussomeli.

Mussomeli’s report had warned of a coup and could have had fueled destabilization efforts against the Arroyo government, Macarambon said.

"While it warned of a coup, there had been no attempt at a military takeover five months after the report was prepared," he said.

"However, we saw an escalation of destabilization and efforts to force the administration’s ouster during this period."

Macarambon underscored the possibility that the supposed Mussomeli report and other FBI documents concerning Philippine government affairs and the political situation could have been used for partisan politics and destabilization against the government.