US prosecutors seek 10-year term for Filipino spy

NEWARK, New Jersey – Federal prosecutors are seeking a 10-year prison term for former Philippine police colonel Michael Ray Aquino who pleaded guilty to possessing secret US documents as part of an opposition plot to undermine the Philippine government.

In seeking the maximum term for Aquino, prosecutors said that the "serious disruption" he caused to the American government outweighed any benefit he should receive for accepting responsibility in the conspiracy - a plot that involved the theft of classified national defense documents from the White House and the FBI.

In a memo to the federal judge who is to sentence Aquino in July, prosecutors said Aquino also posed a "danger to the national security, including the foreign relations, of the United States" by attempting to destabilize and overthrow President Arroyo.

The 97-page memo was filed Monday in US District Court in Newark. Such sentencing memos are generally not made public because they often contain information from grand jury proceedings, which are secret. But US District Judge William Walls ordered the document released after The Star-Ledger of Newark protested, asserting the case was of public importance.

Walls, who is to sentence Aquino and former FBI intelligence analyst Leandro Aragoncillo, said it could be public after removing national security information and the names of people and companies who have not been charged. As a result, blank spaces appear in several sentences.

Aquino’s lawyer, Mark Berman, was at a trial Tuesday and did not immediately return a message seeking comment. He has said that Aquino should face less than four years in prison.

It is unusual for a defendant who pleads guilty to get the maximum term.

Aquino, 41, pleaded guilty in July in a deal that spared him a life term if convicted of espionage.

Aragoncillo, 48, a former Marine who worked as a military aide to vice presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney starting in 1999, pleaded guilty to four charges in May.

The most serious charge, conspiracy to transmit national defense information, can carry the death penalty. But under a plea agreement, Aragoncillo faces 15 to 20 years in prison.

After retiring from the Marines, he became a civilian employee of the FBI, working at Fort Monmouth in central New Jersey. He is a naturalized US citizen who was born in the Philippines.

He admitted passing information to Aquino and opposition politicians in his homeland who wanted to oust Mrs. Arroyo.

Recipients included former Philippine President Joseph Estrada, who was ousted six years ago; Sen. Panfilo Lacson, and former Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, according to earlier court documents.

Estrada and Lacson have acknowledged receiving information from Aquino or Aragoncillo, but deny any wrongdoing.

Aquino was once a senior officer under Lacson in the Philippine National Police. He fled to the United States to escape murder charges in 2001 and lived with his wife and son in Queens, New York.

After serving his prison term, he is likely to be deported.

Prosecutors said Aragoncillo had been recruited in 2000 by opposition forces, and began working with Aquino in early 2005. They were arrested in September 2005. – AP