Conspiracy

Leandro Aragoncillo plea-bargained with US authorities and was sentenced to a jail term. In admitting guilt, he made a full disclosure of his illegal activities and the political beneficiaries of those activities.

We are not sure, however, if this is the end or just the beginning of this rather embarrassing episode.

Aragoncillo’s crime consists of filching classified information from American security agencies and distributing it to his political correspondents in the Philippines. Those correspondents are high-profile political players here. Among those who admitted receiving stuff from Aragoncillo via e-mail are: former president Joseph Estrada; his son, J.V. Ejercito; Senator Aquilino Pimentel; Senator Panfilo Lacson; Rep. Roilo Golez and Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella.

Aragoncillo had admitted to a meeting at Malacañang Palace with Estrada when the latter was still president. It is not clear if the effort to tap classified information from US agencies was hatched during this meeting. That could possibly be a serious diplomatic issue: a sitting Filipino president conspiring to steal secrets from an ally.

Implicated in the Aragoncillo case is Michael Ray Aquino, a fugitive from Philippine law and a protégé of Senator Lacson. Aquino is being sought by Philippine authorities in connection with the Kuratong Baleleng rubout case and the kidnapping and murder of Bubby Dacer along with his driver. Aquino is in US custody in relation to an immigration case.

Also picked up for questioning by US authorities is Cesar Mancao, likewise a close associate of Michael Ray Aquino and Panfilo Lacson. Mancao, too, is implicated in both the Kuratong Baleleng and Dacer cases. He was a senior officer of the notorious Estrada-era Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) of the PNP that was commanded by Lacson.

Both Aquino and Mancao had fled to the US after Estrada was deposed. The Philippine government has an interest in bringing both men back to face the serious charges filed against them.

The American government, for its part, might have an interest in getting their hands on the high-profile political personalities who received stolen information from Aragoncillo. The information, by Aragoncillo’s own account, was used to help advance a conspiracy to bring down President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The fact that classified information was stolen from US government files for purposes of a seditious conspiracy against an allied government is an aggravating factor. Manila, if we were inclined to do so, could take Washington to task for security lapses that might have serious implications for our own political stability.

Our diplomats have yet to decide if we want to do that.

For their part, the Americans have yet to decide if they want this case closed with the conviction of Aragoncillo on the basis of a plea-bargain or keep the case open until his co-conspirators in the Philippines are prosecuted as well.

The latter possibility is what holds us in suspense at the moment. Only a few years ago, the US government requested the extradition of a sitting Filipino congressman – Mark Jimenez – to face charges there. Jimenez eventually served time in an American prison.

The request was made under the RP-US Mutual Legal Assistance Pact. Should charges again be brought before US courts against the Filipino politicians implicated by Aragoncillo’s confession, there is precedence to go by.

Or, the Philippine government may choose push things further by requesting, under the same pact, the extradition of Aquino and Mancao. We have every reason to do so.

The Philippine government may, likewise, request Washington a full disclosure of the conspiracy involving Aragoncillo. This is, after all, a valid national security concern for us.

In which case, Washington cannot just let the case be shelved and quietly forgotten. They will have, as a matter of due diligence, continue their investigation of the matter.

The Filipino politicians implicated in Aragoncillo’s list have said that they do not control what comes through their e-mail. Of course. But then, Aragoncillo was not stealing classified information and passing it on to his Philippine contacts just to while away his time. There is no indication he was an idle person prone to do stupid things to cure his boredom.

Himself a ranking security official with access to powerful people in Washington, Aragoncillo was well aware of the serious penalties awaiting unauthorized use of classified information. In doing what he did, he took tremendous risks. Perfectly normal and rational people take risks only commensurate to the rewards of doing so. By every indication, Aragoncillo was no moron.

We might, on the basis of meager experience, allow that someone like J. V. Ejercito would tolerate stolen information to keep coming into his inbox. But Aquilino Pimentel has been senator for as long as anyone would care to remember. Panfilo Lacson headed the PNP. Roilo Golez served as National Security Adviser to President Arroyo.

Even as they now say that the information passed on to them was worthless, these three gentlemen ought to have known immediately that what was being sent to them were fruits of a crime. As a matter of propriety and patriotism, they should have informed the proper authorities about what was going on. The proper Filipino authorities would have been duty-bound to inform their American counterparts that a scavenger of sensitive information was on the loose.

As considerate friends of Aragoncillo, they should have warned the man that he was doing illegal things. Regardless of the utility of the information that was being passed, the fact remains that the same information was snitched from the secure files of an allied government.

Pimentel, Lacson and Golez, who have railed and riled so much the past year on matters of proper official conduct have, at the very least (and de fact), been guilty of a lapse in judgment. As senior officials of a responsible government, they should have blown the whistle on Aragoncillo immediately.

Not only have they failed to do that, they have also, after the case broke into the open, not properly disclosed the nature of the information passed to them. After Aragoncillo was convicted, these gentlemen have suddenly become scarce.