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NEWS2007//LacsonLinkedToSpying/Oct. 1, 2007 US probers convinced Lacson (Culled from a report of Paolo Romero THE PREVIOUS Senate investigations into the “Hello Garci” wiretaps scandal were used by some disgruntled military officers and opposition leaders in their failed attempt to oust President Arroyo. This assessment can be gleaned from documents submitted to US courts by federal prosecutors in the Aquino-Aragoncillo espionage case. One document is the 97-page “Memorandum of the United States in Support of its Position at Sentencing and its Motion for an Upward Departure” submitted by US Attorney Christopher Christie to the US District Court of New Jersey last April 16 in the prosecution of former Philippine police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino. The document detailed the alleged conspiracy between opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson, Aquino and former federal intelligence analyst Filipino American Leandro Aragoncillo from June to August of 2005, at the same time the wiretapping controversy broke out in Manila Aquino was Lacson’s protégé when he was still chief of the Philippine National Police. He was the “controller” of Aragoncillo in the US who supplied the valuable classified information. Aquino later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison last July for unlawfully possessing and retaining documents and information relating to national defense that had been stolen by Aragoncillo. The espionage case sparked a major political uproar because of allegations that the information supplied by Aquino and Aragoncillo were to be used by the opposition to topple President Arroyo. The US prosecutors submitted the memorandum to convince the courts to impose a stiffer sentence on Aquino. The prosecutors were pushing for a 10-year jail term for Aquino, claiming his actions caused “serious disruption” in US government affairs. The document became significant in the light of the revival of the Senate investigations into the wiretapping controversy that Malacañang officials had described as “recycled.” No Cabinet officials were allowed to attend the new hearings. “While Aquino was directing and managing Lacson’s investigation of the Garcillano scandal, he was also communicating with various individuals, including active and retired members of the ROP (Republic of the Philippines) military, about forcibly removing President Arroyo from her position and installing Lacson as President of the ROP,” a paragraph on Page 45 of the document said. The US prosecutors said Aquino directly reported all his activities to Lacson. They cited one email as an example. It was sent on June 18, 2005, to Aquino from “jlya69@wapmail.smart.com.ph” from a certain “KSMPSB.” “Ifever we will succeed, pls tell d Senator that our group (d AFP junior ofrs) will install him to the presidency.-ksmpsb,” the email said. Later in the same day, Aquino received another email from the same sender reiterating the earlier message. “Sir, I am mobile. Capt. Cabunoc says how are you? The special troops at Cotobato,” a portion of the message read. The document also referred to emails by Aquino to a certain individual who was informed of Lacson’s request to his protégé to return to the Philippines “to help.” “It maybe a matter of time that GMAs reign will be a thing of the past. Three weeks ago, SPML (Senator Panfilo M. Lacson) called and asked me if I could go home now -- to help,” the document quoted an email from Aquino. The document also said Aquino enlisted the help of a certain Daniel Cruz to gather information about the Garcillano investigation, which he subsequently reported to Lacson. Cruz reportedly provided Aquino with the mobile phone numbers of TSgt. Vidal Doble, the former agent of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines who was allegedly behind the recording of President Arroyo’s telephone conversations. The document also said Aquino, supposedly acting on orders of Lacson, had directed Cruz to gather more information about former Commission on Elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. Cruz also sent an email to Aquino on June 24, 2005, that had toll records for a telephone in the “Office of the President, Finance Office, Mabini Hall, Malacañang, Manila.” Lacson repeatedly denied his involvement in the espionage activity and insisted the information provided by Aquino were also sent to other political leaders in the country and were not deemed classified. * * * (POSTSCRIPT comes out in the Philippine STAR every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Its online edition is uploaded the night before at http://www.manilamail.com) |
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