NBI admits serving legal notices sent by US to Erap

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) served legal notices sent by a US district court to former President Joseph Estrada and his son, San Juan Mayor Jose Victor "JV" Ejercito, informing them that US authorities had tapped their e-mail and telephone communications.

NBI Interpol division executive officer Claro de Castro Jr. said the notices were first sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs and then to the Department of Justice, which in turn instructed the NBI to deliver them.

"Mayor Ejercito personally received the notices addressed to him and, on behalf of his father, former President Estrada, who was still indisposed at that time, undergoing an eye operation. He was still confined at San Juan Medical Center," De Castro said.

He could not confirm reports that Sen. Panfilo Lacson was also given a notice. Interpol agents served the notices on Feb. 27 to Ejercito, De Castro said.

Ejercito and Estrada were informed by Judge Jose Linares of the US District Court of New Jersey that the court had given US investigators permission to intercept their communications from Aug. 22 to Sept. 12 last year.

"During the period of authorized interception, wire and/or electronic communication to or from your telephone and/or email account were intercepted and your wire and/or electronic communications were intercepted," the notices said without stating the reason.

An NBI source said the notices were not made public to avoid speculation that they were related to the Arroyo administration’s crackdown on its opponents following the issuance of Proclamation 1017, which declared a state of national emergency on Feb. 24.

"The notices would have been misconstrued to be politically motivated. Remember that Mayor Ejercito was very vocal against the President and to serve the notices at that time might fuel speculations that it was another form of pressure exerted by the Arroyo government against the opposition," the source added.

The emergency declaration was aimed at thwarting an alleged coup by disgruntled military officers, communist rebels and their civilian backers. It was lifted a week later.

Mrs. Arroyo came under fire from critics who accused her of virtually declaring martial law and violating civil liberties.

Another possible reason for the US surveillance could be the espionage charges against former ranking police officer and Lacson protégé Michael Ray Aquino, though De Castro could not say if the court notices were related to this.

Aquino is currently facing trial in the United States for allegedly acting as a conduit of allegedly stolen information between Estrada’s camp and Leandro Aragoncillo, a Federal Bureau of Investigation analyst and former White House staffer.

Aragoncillo is accused of stealing classified information on the Philippines from the White House and the FBI and passing it on to Aquino, who in turn allegedly passed the information on to opposition leaders in the Philippines — including Estrada and Lacson.

The spy case is believed to be the first in White House history.

In the complaint against Aquino and Aragoncillo, from the period of May to August 2005, Aragoncillo reportedly printed or downloaded at least 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified as "secret."

Aragoncillo was born in the Philippines and became a naturalized US citizen in 1991. He served 21 years in the US Marines, ultimately as a gunnery sergeant.

He worked at the White House on the security detail for Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney between 1999 and 2002 before joining the FBI as a civilian intelligence analyst at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.

Stacy Mac Taggert, the US Embassy’s deputy press attaché, said the notices are served in criminal investigations but she would not confirm whether or not they were connected to the Aragoncillo espionage case.

"We have no official statement to make because we are not allowed to comment on criminal cases. We cannot comment on a specific case that is ongoing," she said.

"US laws provide that notices are to be served to individuals whose communication has been intercepted by American authorities and this is used in criminal investigation by the court." — Pia Lee-Brago