DOJ going after Erap, Ping

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez has requested United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to assist Philippine prosecutors in gathering evidence against the Filipino co-conspirators of ex-police officer Michael Ray Aquino and former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) intelligence analyst Leandro Aragoncillo, who have been convicted of espionage in the US.

In his letter to Attorney General Gonzales, Gonzalez stressed that the crimes committed by Aquino in the US are also punishable under Philippine laws.

Gonzalez added that the evidence presented during Aquino’s trial were “damaging and detrimental to the government of the Philippines.”

Recipients of the secret US files included former President Joseph Estrada, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, according to US court documents.

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

Estrada said the prison terms meted out by the US court against Aragoncillo and Aquino were harsh, considering the information they provided were worthless.

US District Court Judge William Walls sentenced Aquino to six years and four months in prison after a three-hour hearing in Newark, New Jersey.

Aragoncillo, a naturalized American citizen from the Philippines and former US Marine, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage and other charges for taking and transmitting classified information to opposition politicians in the Philippines in an attempt to destabilize and overthrow President Arroyo, the US Justice Department said.

“How can information that has been read by so many in newspapers be considered classified?” Estrada said.

Estrada said the two men were his friends but had no political motive for getting the information.

He dismissed speculation that Aquino and Aragoncillo were part of a plot to topple Mrs. Arroyo, who took power after he was ousted by a 2001 “people power” revolt over corruption allegations.

Estrada said the documents contained harmless information, mostly unflattering assessments of politicians such as Mrs. Arroyo, which were widely reported in the Philippine media.

Gonzalez earlier told reporters that the DOJ will build a case, possibly for espionage and sedition, against the co-conspirators in the Philippines of Aquino and Aragoncillo.

In an ambush interview with reporters yesterday, Gonzalez said it would be better if the DOJ will be furnished with the classified documents presented during Aquino’s trial as these documents made mention of Aquino’s alleged unindicted co-conspirators.

“It would be better if we have the classified documents. I am sorry for them (Aquino’s alleged unindicted co-conspirators) if their names are in the classified documents,” he said.

Gonzalez told reporters that the evidence against Aquino’s alleged co-conspirators is “strong.” However, he said the cases to be filed by the DOJ would depend on the contents of the documents to be supplied by the US Department of Justice.

Both Aquino and Aragoncillo have pleaded guilty to passing classified information to opposition politicians in the Philippines as part of a plot to overthrow the President.

“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 added.

“We have been made to understand prior to the sentencing of Mr. Aquino that the Philippine government will be furnished copies of the documents which were presented to the court. It is now our earnest request to be furnished with copies of all pertinent legal and testimonial testimonies as submitted to the court in the US because my government is also studying the possibility of charging Mr. Aquino et al., together with the unindicted co-conspirators for crimes they committed against the Republic,” Gonzalez said.

“Mr. Aquino was charged together with unindicted co-conspirators, some of whom are national figures in the Philippine government. Considering that the unindicted co-conspirators have already been

identified, it is assumed that documents presented in court during the trial of Mr. Aquino and Mr. Aragoncillo established the linkage between the accused and these Filipinos who are still walking free in the Philippines,” said Gonzalez in his one-page letter dated July 18, 2007.

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 FBI 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 for the US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

Federal prosecutors 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 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.

Aquino was a deputy director of the PNP and also a senior superintendent of the now disbanded Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) 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. - AP, AFP