‘Aquino’s passport can’t be cancelled’

NEW YORK — Cashiered police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino’s passport cannot be canceled unless ordered by a competent court in the Philippines, the Philippine consul general here said yesterday.

Consul General Cecilia Rebong said Aquino’s passport will remain valid even if he is convicted in the United States of espionage charges and violation of immigration laws, and deported to the Philippines.

"Even if there’s a conviction and they deport him it doesn’t have any effect on his right to hold a Philippine passport," she said in an interview.

Rebong said the consulate will send a representative to attend Aquino’s detention hearing, although they were informed on Tuesday that no definite schedule had been set.

Yesterday’s scheduled hearing was postponed though after Aquino’s lawyer requested more time to discuss some matters with the US Attorney General’s Office and file a more substantive application on behalf of his client, she added.

Aquino also has a pending case concerning his immigration status in the US.

The consulate said Aquino and Leandro Aragoncillo, a suspended Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) intelligence analyst also charged with espionage, have had no contact with each other since they were detained and charged before the court.

Consul Ma. Lourdes Legaspi was able to talk to Aquino yesterday afternoon at the Passaic Country Jail in New Jersey, where he is detained, and checked on his medical condition at the detention cell.

Aquino asked the consulate to make representations with US authorities for his wife and son to be allowed to visit him because they have not seen him since he was arrested and detained last week.

Legaspi learned from prison authorities that Aquino’s wife and son were not allowed to visit him because they could not present legal identification.

The consulate’s legal officer said Aquino did not discuss the espionage case filed against him and Aragoncillo with her on the advice of his lawyer.

The protégé of Sen. Panfilo Lacson was arrested last Sept. 10 in front of his Queens apartment building in New York while his co-accused, Filipino-American Aragoncillo, was apprehended at his home in New Jersey.

The FBI complaint showed that Aragoncillo had top-secret clearance, worked at a New Jersey US army base, and was charged with passing information about Filipino political leaders to Aquino, who then passed it on to current and former Philippine officials.

Aragoncillo’s hearing was set for yesterday at the New Jersey District Court.

Meanwhile, a senior Filipino diplomat said yesterday the lodging of a diplomatic protest against the US government for allegedly keeping close tabs on developments in the Philippines is not necessary since it is a "normal" activity among allies.

The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it is not surprising to learn about US spying in the Philippines since it is not new.

"Even among friends and allies that (spying) is normal," the diplomat said. Asked if they would file a diplomatic protest, he answered: "Why should we?"

The diplomat said the US and its allies are expected to monitor the Philippines closely because of their economic and political interests in Southeast Asia.

The US Embassy in Manila allegedly reported that there have been coup plots in the country in recent months.

Some Filipino officials believe the US embassy was receiving reports on growing dissent within the military ranks and other information from insiders at the Armed Forces of the Philippines and its intelligence network.

Former US embassy chargé d’ affaires Joseph Mussomeli said during the height of resignation calls for President Arroyo last July that the US government’s intercession in the political crisis was not necessary.

The situation in 1986 that led to the first EDSA people power action was different from the political crisis facing the Arroyo administration today, he added.

While US intervention in 1986 basically led to a peaceful resolution of the political crisis, Mussomeli did not rule out a similar US action if the situation deteriorates to the point that the people would resort to violent and unconstitutional means to change the government.