Ex-Lacson aide nabbed in US for espionage
By Jose Katigbak, STAR Washington bureau
The Philippine Star 09/14/2005

WASHINGTON — Cashiered police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray "Ninoy" Aquino, wanted for murder in the Philippines, has been arrested in New Jersey on charges of espionage.

The Philippines does not have an extradition request for Aquino, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Aquino, an aide of Sen. Panfilo Lacson when he was Philippine National Police chief, along with Filipino-American Leandro Aragoncillo, an FBI intelligence analyst and former US Marine, for allegedly stealing "highly classified" material stored in computers at an FBI office.

They were arrested Saturday at their homes.

At Malacañang, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the government had no prior knowledge of the FBI operation against Aquino and Aragoncillo.

"As far as the Philippine government is concerned, we’ll just monitor this," he said.

"Let’s see how serious the offense for which he was arrested is. Definitely, we had no prior knowledge. I got this from a text message. I was surprised."

Ermita said the last time the government had concerned itself with Aquino was when US authorities asked the Philippines a few months ago whether there was a pending case against the ex-police officer.

Being a Filipino citizen, the government would extend legal assistance to Aquino, he added.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday that Aquino had been arrested and charged in court in the United States.

Quoting Consul General to New York Cecilia Rebong, Foreign Affairs spokesman Gilberto Asuque said that Aquino was arrested last September 10 and was brought to court two days after.

Rebong reported that Aquino had not yet entered a plea since he had not been arraigned, he added.

Asuque said Rebong reported that Aquino was in court without a lawyer and was provided with one by the judge.

Prosecutors did not inform the consulate about Aquino’s arrest "because of the covert and sensitive nature of the case," Asuque quoted Rebong as saying.

Aquino and Aragoncillo were charged with conspiracy to defraud the US government and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Aragoncillo was also charged with unauthorized use of a government computer to obtain and transmit classified information, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Aquino, 39, and Aragoncillo, 46, were ordered held without bail following an appearance before US Magistrate Patty Shwartz on Monday.

Aquino, a small man with glasses and a button-down plaid shirt, showed little emotion.

He, like Aragoncillo, a taller, athletic-looking man with a buzz-cut and jeans and a T-shirt, spent most of the hearing looking at the floor.

Aragoncillo retired honorably as gunnery sergeant in September 2004 after 21 years in the US Marine Corps.

Wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt, with closely cropped hair, he stood nearly at attention during his brief court appearance.

US Attorney Christopher Christie said there was no evidence that the Arroyo administration was involved, but declined to say if the suspects were in contact with opposition factions.

"Crimes like these strike at the heart of our national security," he said. "These defendants will face the full weight of federal prosecution."

Christie would not say what motivated the suspects.

At a joint news conference with Christie following the arraignment, Leslie Wiser Jr., the special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Jersey operations, said: "The arrests of Leandro Aragoncillo and Michael Ray Aquino affirm the FBI’s commitment to apprehending those who would seek to reveal classified information to foreign nationals."

It is "disheartening" that one the bureau’s workers would face such charges, he added.

The FBI suspended Aragoncillo, a naturalized US citizen, on Monday.

After his arrest, Aragoncillo "essentially admitted that he took classified information," according to Assistant US Attorney Karl Buch.

Buch said Aragoncillo had $500,000 in debts, mostly payments on rental properties, and that Aquino had been investigated in the Philippines in connection with a conspiracy to murder two people.

Aquino is a suspect in the killing of publicist Salvador "Bubby Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito.

Aragoncillo, who worked at a New Jersey Army base, sent some of the material to Aquino, who now lives in Queens, New York, according to an FBI complaint made public Monday.

Specifics about the classified information were not revealed in the complaint which, nonetheless, gave some clues as to the nature of the pair’s efforts.

In an e-mail that Aquino sent Jan. 2 to an unnamed "high-level" government official, Aquino said that Aragoncillo "wants to talk to you" and give you some updates on the political situation in the country.

"He claimed that a change in leadership is boiling and that it is just a matter of time," Aquino wrote, according to the complaint.

Aragoncillo was hired to work at Fort Monmouth in July 2004 and began sending classified information and documents in January, according to the FBI complaint.

Investigators found that from May to Aug. 15, Aragoncillo printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines,of which 37 were classified "secret," the complaint said.

The probe by immigration authorities began after Aquino was arrested in March, accused of overstaying the tourist visa with which he entered the US in July 2001.

He had been free on bail.

Aragoncillo met with immigration officials to inquire about the arrest of Aquino, which prompted a review of his work at Fort Monmouth, an Army base on the central New Jersey coast, the complaint said.

Federal prosecutors and the FBI used phone taps and surveillance, and monitored computers and e-mail accounts as part of the eight-week investigation. 3 Gov’t Officials To Be Charged With Aquino In US–NBI
In Manila, the National Bureau of Investigation said the FBI will also file charges of espionage before a US court against "a current high ranking official, a former high ranking official and a second-level high ranking official" of the Philippines.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco yesterday said that based on the information they gathered from their sources, the FBI would also be including the three others in their charge sheet.

"This is still an FBI activity, and I have no idea as to who are these three other persons and we would not take any action unless we are requested by the FBI," he said.

"Their identities would only be revealed once they have been indicted since the charges would be at that time public records, or when an arrest warrant has been issued against them."

Wycoco said the FBI would act swiftly on the cases and that the names of the three would be revealed soon.

"Normally before extraditing he would have to serve his sentence unless something else happens," he said. "But it is also possible that he would be extradited without having to serve his sentence." Senate To Probe Aquino’s Arrest
A senator wants the Senate to investigate the impact on national security of Aquino’s arrest in the US on federal charges of espionage.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said he wants to know why Aquino was involved in gathering information about the Philippines from the FBI.

"I am sure, if he was involved in espionage activities, from whom he was doing it, for what purpose, who was prodding him to do it are questions that would be of interest in the Senate, in our committee of national defense and security," he said.

"Once we get more information, then we can look into how this may relate to nation defense matters and national security matters.

"The Philippines and the United States have different laws on

espionage... If he had (committed) acts that violated their (US) laws, he should be responsible for this." Lawmakers Asks DOJ To Speed Up Aquino’s Return
Four lawmakers called on Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to speed up government efforts to extradite Aquino.

The lawmakers are Representatives Douglas Cagas of Davao del Sur, Exequiel Javier of Antique, Edwin Uy of Isabela) and Eduardo Veloso of Leyte.

Javier said Aquino’s arrest confirms the destabilization efforts against the government by the opposition.

"What was Aquino’s purpose in spying against the Arroyo government?" he said

"Who is this unidentified official? Was it Senator Lacson? What was this information and how was it used? I don’t think Mr. Aquino used this to just to make a scrapbook. Definitely, this information was stolen and put to a nefarious use.

"Aquino’s illegal activities in the US only goes to show that the opposition is really navigating malevolent and dangerous waters."

Uy said the NBI should find out who paid off Aragoncillo to pass along to Aquino vital documents about the government.

"Certainly, the classified documents were for sale," he said. "Who provided the money to Aquino to pay off Aragoncillo? Large sums of money may have been involved for the conspiracy."

Veloso said only the opposition would have a keen interest in these anti-government activities.

"Ping should explain about the involvement of his top aide in the conspiracy," he said.

"Why would Aquino be so interested in availing himself of classified information about the government? Certainly, someone or a group is behind him." — With reports from Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy, Pia Lee-Brago in New York, Evelyn Macairan, Chrstina Mendez, AP

just saw this on the news, i still don't have any idea of the whole story. what info was he stealing? for whom specifically? for what purpose?

my apologies if this is covered in the article above, but that thing is too damn long and winding to finish reading, i got no patience.



more info here:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=...orld&id=3509913



Former Marine Leandro Aragoncillo worked on Al Gore's staff when he was vice president. (ABC News Exclusive)



Suspected spy worked in White House

(10/5/05 - WASHINGTON) - Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history.

Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President d!ck Cheney.

"I don't know of a case where the vetting broke down before and resulted in a spy being in the White House," said Richard Clarke, a former White House advisor who is now an ABC News consultant.

Federal investigators say Aragoncillo, a naturalized citizen from the Philippines, used his top secret clearance to steal classified intelligence documents from White House computers.

In 2000, Aragoncillo worked on the staff of then-Vice President Al Gore. When interviewed by Philippine television, he remarked how valued Philippine employees were at the White House.

"I think what they like most is our integrity and loyalty," Aragoncillo said.

Classified Material Transferred by E-Mail

Officials say the classified material, which Aragoncillo stole from the vice president's office, included damaging dossiers on the president of the Philippines. He then passed those on to opposition politicians planning a coup in the Pacific nation.

"Even though it's not for the Russians or some other government, the fact that it occurred at the White House is a matter of great concern," said John Martin, who was the government's lead espionage prosecutor for 26 years.

Last year, after leaving the Marines, Aragoncillo was caught by the FBI while he worked for the Bureau at an intelligence center at Fort Monmouth, N.J.

According to a criminal complaint, Aragoncillo was arrested last month and accused of downloading more than 100 classified documents from FBI computers.

"The information was transferred mostly by e-mails," said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie at the time of Aragoncillo's arrest.

Since that arrest, officials say Aragoncillo has started to cooperate. He has admitted to spying while working on the staff of Vice President Cheney's office.

Aragoncillo began working at the White House in 1999. Officials are now trying to learn how he landed the job, when he started spying, and how he escaped detection for so long.

"Of course, it is a source of embarrassment when you find out that this kind of activity has been carried out literally right under your nose," said Martin, the former espionage prosecutor.

According to friends, in addition to his work for Cheney and Gore, Aragoncillo claimed he also worked with President Clinton and Condoleezza Rice when she was the national security advisor.

now filipinos will be looked on with suspicion and may be even discriminated by being denied employment in the united states because of all this... i wonder if geogre bush will fire his filipina personal chef!

^Another pooping attempt on the Filipinos by dalawapo.

I'm too busy to make a lengthy reply, but do you really believe that bush will fire a highly-skilled chef just because some idiot Filipino stole something? What's the connection? See you in a bit dalawapo, I'm not through with you fu-k @$$.

your so stupid, obviously it was a joke, ur lacking some knowledge on human interaction, also u acting like a sick puppy always following me around wanna play with my bone, but your not alone there are many puppy wanna play with dalawapo!

FREE VIDEO
(• Probe into alleged spy in White House
Oct. 6: The FBI is investigating whether a former Marine took classified documents from the White House and passed them on to the Philippines government. NBC's Pete Williams reports. (Today show) )



if you can stomach this long a$$ article (below), you deserve a cookie. posting anyway for future reference, if yall don't mind.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9603947/
Ex-Marine may have spied from White House
Analyst allegedly gave documents to Philippines
By Alan Sipress and Dan Eggen
The Washington Post
Updated: 10:49 p.m. ET Oct. 5, 2005

The Justice Department is investigating whether a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Philippines stole classified documents while he worked in the office of Vice President Cheney and provided the information to opposition politicians in Manila, Bush administration officials said yesterday.

The possibility that Leandro Aragoncillo was passing the material while stationed as a U.S. Marines security official at the White House marks a dramatic expansion of the case against him and a former Philippines police official, Michael Ray Aquino. Both were arrested and charged in federal court in Newark last month with sending classified information obtained this year to the Philippines -- more than two years after Aragoncillo left the White House and had gone to work as an FBI intelligence analyst.

Officials from the White House, Justice Department and FBI declined to comment late yesterday, other than to confirm that Aragoncillo first went to work at the White House in 1999 when Al Gore was vice president. ABC News reported last night that Aragoncillo had admitted taking classified documents while he worked in Cheney's office, but officials with the FBI and U.S. attorney's office in Newark declined to comment on the report.

Former Philippines president Joseph Estrada, who was forced from office four years ago by mass demonstrations, has acknowledged receiving documents from Aragoncillo while the suspect was still in the U.S. Marines. Estrada told a Philippine newspaper last month that Aragoncillo had passed on material while visiting him at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Manila, where the former president was receiving treatment while being held on corruption charges from 2001 through 2003. Part of that stay would coincide with Aragoncillo's time in Cheney's office. Estrada remains under house arrest.

The prosecutions of Aragoncillo and Aquino have ignited a political firestorm in the Philippines, and officials from the two countries say the United States is now caught in a feud between President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and rivals pressing to force her from office.

Unflattering assessments
Federal prosecutors in New Jersey charged last month that Aragoncillo conspired with Aquino to steal more than 100 documents this year from the FBI, CIA and State Department. The men are accused of feeding classified material about the Philippines to politicians seeking to topple the government.

Aragoncillo retired in 2004 after 21 years as a U.S. Marine and began working for the FBI as an intelligence analyst. Reports apparently based on the classified material allegedly downloaded by Aragoncillo are being published in the Philippines. The reports reveal not only sources of sensitive U.S. information but include frank and unflattering assessments of Philippine leaders.

In once such report published in a Manila newspaper, comments attributed to diplomats at the U.S. Embassy described Arroyo as weak and overbearing with little popular credibility. Her vice president was called inept and unfit to take her place. Clandestine discussions among dissident soldiers were detailed and the president's chances of surviving a coup were weighed.

Aragoncillo, 46, and Aquino, 39, were arrested in New Jersey on Sept. 10 and are being held without bail. Aquino, a former deputy director of the Philippines National Police and a Philippine national, is slated to be formally indicted in the case in Newark today, according to one law enforcement official.

A criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in New Jersey charges that Aragoncillo shared the classified documents with Aquino as well as with two high-level Philippine public officials and a third former high-level Philippine official. With speculation raging in Manila about their identities, U.S. prosecutors have yet to reveal the names.

"We're talking about opposition people and their desire to replace the current administration," said a U.S.-based American official familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing. "They're not inside the current administration." The official said that those who received the information would be identified after the case goes to trial.

But several prominent critics of Arroyo's government have acknowledged that they obtained information from Aragoncillo and Aquino.

E-mails from Aquino
Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, who unsuccessfully challenged Arroyo in the presidential election last year, said in an interview that he had received e-mails from Aquino. Lacson, a retired national police chief, had headed a special anti-organized crime task force and Aquino had been a senior aide.

Lacson said some of the e-mails Aquino sent were widely distributed to current and former members of the Philippines national police force while others were personal communications. He added he did not consider the information to be sensitive intelligence, calling it nothing unusual.

"This was classified because it would embarrass the United States. There are opinions provided by certain officials of the United States government," he explained.

Although he said he had no direct knowledge of the U.S. investigation, Lacson said he expected he would be named in the United States as one of the three Philippine officials sent material by Aragoncillo and Aquino.

Estrada, the former president, said in a statement published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the information was "non-classified" and said he was unaware of any illegal activity by Aragoncillo.

"Why would they include me in that mess? I know nothing about issues involving him," Estrada told the newspaper.

According to the criminal complaint, federal investigators first took an interest in Aragoncillo after he tried to intervene on behalf of Aquino, who had been arrested in March for overstaying a tourist visa.

Aquino had come to the United States almost four years earlier and settled in New York. When he left his homeland, he was under indictment in the Philippines for involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a public relations executive, who had quarreled with Estrada, and the man's driver.

After Aragoncillo contacted U.S. immigration officials this spring, identifying himself as an FBI employee and Aquino's friend, the FBI launched an audit of its internal database, which offers access to documents from various government agencies.

Investigators discovered Aragoncillo had used his top-secret clearance to download and print information relating to the Philippines although the material was outside his area of assignment, the complaint alleged. He then allegedly forwarded the information by e-mail, telephone and text message to the officials in the Philippines.

Unregistered agents?
Federal prosecutors have charged the men with conspiracy and acting as unregistered agents under the direction of foreign officials. Aquino's lawyer has denied the allegations. Aragoncillo has offered no public statement.

A U.S. official familiar with the investigation said Aragoncillo was paid to steal the information he obtained, but e-mail messages cited in the complaint also portrayed him as having a interest in shaping the politics of his birthplace.

Politics in the Philippines have been convulsive since Arroyo was elected to her first full term last year. Her opponents accused her of rigging the vote and sought this summer to impeach her. Arroyo's allies in Congress squelched that bid last month.

Last month, the Philippine Daily Inquirer published a series of articles detailing what it said were classified U.S. Embassy reports about the political turmoil. The newspaper said it had received the documents from a source who wanted to remain anonymous and that it believed them to be among those downloaded by Aragoncillo.

Coup discussions
In one document, Joseph Mussomeli, deputy chief of the U.S. Embassy at the time, reportedly advised that Arroyo's public support had faded and elements of all Philippine military services were planning an operation to remove her. In another, citing military and civilian contacts, he wrote that Philippine generals and more radical junior officers were separately plotting to oust her.

A document from late July reportedly detailed coup discussions at a secret conclave of about two dozen young army and navy officers in Manila. Another account, citing a clandestine source, described Arroyo calling an emergency meeting of her commanding generals to ensure their backing.

Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said in an interview that he had asked the U.S. Embassy for information about the investigation, including specifics regarding the classified documents and who in the Philippines received them. He said he was still awaiting a response.

"These are things that will give us an idea about the extent of the participation of our people here and the reasons they are doing this, if it really forms part of their scenario to destabilize the government," Gonzalez said.

Sipress reported from Manila.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

ok to summarize from what i gathered in short message:

joseph estrada visited the u.s when he was president,

he asked or coreced a filipino top offical working at the white house with the vice president to steal top secret data about the philippines and give it to estrada.

eventually estrada was oust, but the filipino top offical continued to gather top secret data about the philippines from the US. suposedly damaging info that would get GMA oust and another political figure will take her place, iono which offical it is, but it is some guy..

is that it?

Moron. If it was a joke - it wasn't really funny. Making people laugh can be tantamount to a work of a genius, so can an idiot like you even discern between what is meant to be funny and what is not?




Oh I'll follow you alright... hehehe. I will follow you because it is not illegal to do so, and if that bothers you enough then go to hell you @$$hole. Basically, the reason I'm following you is because I want to mock your idiotic remarks against the Filipino culture. Your threads are inflamatory in the guise of someone interested in the richness of the Filipino culture. Come to think of it, you're a non-Filipino who is very active in the Filipino forum - why the fu-k is that? Because you come in here - like this kollision guy and this PrismKnight... posting pseudo-culture-loving Filipino wannabees, pretending to show interest in the Filipino culture... and then all of a sudden post inflamatory threads. That's your blatant scheme.

US may think twice now of hiring Filipino employees that handle sensitive and classified documents.

^Correct. But USA may not fire an Executive White House Chef just because of what happened <--- as what the stupid pig dalawapo commented.

IMO-
I thought it was funny...

^As expected, dalawapo would use one of his created accounts like this "sxse_kc" one and show some support on dalawapo's stupid opinions. The truth is: dalawapo insisted that his posting was a joke, (Click here to read post #5 above) and in order to support his insistence - this account (sxse_kc) says: "I thought it was funny...". Who are you fooling idiot pig? The scheme of things is very obvious. The stupid gay pig dalawapo will now come back to me and claim that another person thinks his posting was funny - and thereby supporting his allegation that it was really meant to be a joke. You think you won't get caught with this scheme? Ha ha ha... by using other accounts to support your claims - you're obviously fooling yourself boy.

If you look at all these evil scheme going on and view it from a bigger perspective - it would be the most blatant, most obvious, low-level kind of scheme, easily detectable and therefore can be construed as a work of a low-IQ individual.

This is my own account dumb a$$ not dalawapo, dayum you really don't know what the heck your talking about! Just because we have a sense of humor and you don't, don't hate!

Before you open your big mouth you idiot pig, give up your IP address. Or let's have a moderator look it up. DEAL?

btw, if ur' on dial-up, ur ip address dont matter, cuz it changes everytime

^True. I always forget that some people are still on the vintage dial-up. LOL. Which, by the way, works to their advantage for the likes of people with multiple AF accounts such as dalawapo, kollision and prismknight.

Have the moderator look it up... No I don't have a dial up... and once you find out I'm not that other person I want you to start a new thread that says I'm Sorry sxse_kc... and I want a nice BIG apology!! DEAL!

In the end it's going to be you that looks stupid!!!

Your the one that needs to watch it before you open YOUR BIG MOUTH!!!

hey guess what everydbody, im approaching my 10,000th post! and also filipinos are tarnished because of the actions of this filipino spy!

so how long b4 u surpass ek-ek?

D E A L!

is the connection between your 10,000th post and Filipinos being tarnished?

Look i admit it....I'M DALAWAPO...yes its me. HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!.....fukk all you motherfukkers!!!!..i had sex with your sisters.

^what?, i tot Dalawapo is gay

LOL