Michael Ray gets 6 years; DOJ eyes conspirators in RP

The Department of Justice (DOJ) will build a case, possibly for espionage and sedition, against the Filipino co-conspirators of Michael Ray Aquino, a former officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP) who has been sentenced to six years and four months in prison in the US for espionage.

Aquino had pleaded guilty to passing classified information to opposition politicians in the Philippines as part of a plot to overthrow President Arroyo.

“We are looking at the entire records of this case. We do not have it yet but we were promised before that after the trial, we would be furnished copies of all the documents,” Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez told reporters yesterday.

“I am not pointing to anybody. I am just saying that there are several unindicted co-conspirators who have been named very clearly in the documents,” Gonzalez said.

Malacañang had said that the conviction of Aquino should serve as a warning to opposition leaders seeking to destabilize the Arroyo administration.

The ruling on Aquino marked the first time a Filipino was sentenced in an espionage case in the United States.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” Aquino told Senior US District Court Judge William Walls during a three-hour hearing in Newark, New Jersey. “I never had the intention to harm the United States. I love this country.”

Aquino, 41, pleaded guilty on July 24, 2006 to receiving secret documents containing national defense information as well as information on terrorist threats to US military personnel in the Philippines from co-conspirator Leandro Aragoncillo, a Filipino-American intelligence analyst of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who worked at various times for Vice Presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney.

After Judge Walls announced his sentence, Aquino was returned to federal custody, where he has been since his arrest in September 2005, said a spokesman of the US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

Federal prosecutors have sought a maximum 10-year prison term for Aquino, saying 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.

Aquino’s lawyer Mark Berman in an email to The STAR said he was pleased that the court rejected the government’s request for the maximum sentence but added, “We will appeal the court’s decision not to utilize a more appropriate and more lenient sentencing guideline.”

Asked if depositions he got from ex-President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Panfilo Lacson were taken into consideration by Judge Walls when sentencing Aquino, Berman said the court “appeared to have taken their views into account.”

“He (Aquino) has already served approximately two years, he is likely to get one year credit for good conduct, so he will serve approximately three additional years in prison before being removed to the Philippines,” Berman told The STAR.

Aquino, a protégé of Lacson, an opposition leader with close links to deposed President Estrada, has been in federal custody since his arrest on Sept. 10, 2005 on spying charges.

By pleading guilty Aquino avoided a possible life sentence and trial that could have exposed the intelligence gathering techniques of the US government.

Aragoncillo is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Walls on Wednesday and faces a much tougher prison term.

He admitted passing information to Aquino and opposition politicians in the Philippines, including Estrada and Lacson who wanted to oust Mrs. Arroyo. He said the documents he passed were like a “blueprint” on how to engineer a coup.

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

“Former President Estrada and Senator Lacson were cooperative with the defense’s effort to present the true facts to the court, which appeared to have taken their views into account,” Berman said.

“The Aquino family is very appreciative of those friends and countrymen in the Philippines who lent their support during this challenging time,” he added.

Aragoncillo, 48, pleaded guilty to four charges in May 2006, including conspiracy to transmit national defense information which can carry the death penalty. But under a plea agreement, he faces 15 to 20 years in prison.

Aquino was a deputy director of the PNP and also a senior superintendent of the now disbanded Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force before he fled to the US in July 2001 to escape arrest on murder charges.

He left with his wife and son after charges were filed against him in connection with the murder of public relations practitioner Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in November 2000.

He studied nursing in New York and passed the board examinations in 2004.

Aragoncillo’s cover was blown when he tried to use his influence to intervene before US immigration officials for Aquino, who was arrested for overstaying his visa.

Aquino admitted receiving documents and information from Aragoncillo from January 2005 until his arrest.

Meanwhile, Senator Lacson said he has spoken to Aquino’s wife who told him that they will appeal her husband’s case because the guidelines were not followed.

Lacson said his lawyers would seek for the lower term of four years because under the present decision, the 6-year term is for transmitting when Aquino admitted the crime for receiving and retaining classified information.

The senator expressed confidence that Aquino will get a lower sentence and even be allowed to a House probation after serving at least three years in detention.

In the same interview, Lacson was unable to hide his disappointment on what he perceives as moves by some ranking government officials led by Justice Secretary Gonzalez, to seek the higher penalty of a 10-year term for Aquino and pursue the angle that the classified information were being used in destabilizing the Arroyo government.

“Insofar as Aquino’s case is concerned, the court disregarded conspiracy because he admitted... receiving and retaining information. If that was the best he could hope for, then I guess the sentence is right, except that it should be reconciled to the crime as committed,” Lacson said. - with Jose Katigbak, Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, AP