US embassy cable - 05MANILA4417

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANILA 004417 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/PMBS, INR/EAP 
NSC FOR GREEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PINR, PINS, RP 
SUBJECT: FILIPINO REACTION TO ESPIONAGE CASE AGAINST FBI 
EMPLOYEE AND FORMER PHILIPPINE POLICE OFFICIAL 
 
REF: MANILA 1674 
 
1.  (U) This message is Sensitive But Unclassified.  Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
2.  (SBU) Summary:  The announcement of the arrest of a 
former Philippine police official and an FBI employee on 
espionage charges in the U.S. has generated mixed reaction in 
the Philippines.  Several national politicians have admitted 
in media reports to receiving information from one or both 
men charged with the crime, while denying any wrongdoing. 
President Arroyo has said the case is a matter of U.S. law 
and not a matter for the GRP.  One newspaper has recently 
published articles containing information it says is culled 
from U.S. documents.  Several political commentators have 
used the case to accuse the U.S. of "spying" on the 
Philippines, though President Arroyo has dismissed these 
claims.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------ 
U.S. Case Gets Headlines 
------------------------ 
 
3.  (U) Since September 13 when the story broke in the 
Philippines, the case involving allegations of espionage 
against Leandro Aragoncillo, an employee of the FBI, and 
Michael Ray Aquino, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) 
official, has received significant daily coverage in all 
local major media outlets.  (Note:  Aragoncillo and Aquino 
were arrested in the U.S on September 10; their arrests were 
announced by the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey on 
September 12.  End Note.)   The press has made a point of 
identifying Aragoncillo as a Filipino-American who was 
educated in the Philippines; of noting that Aquino fled the 
Philippines after being charged with murder; and of linking 
Aquino to his former boss, Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, a 
leading member of the opposition and failed 2004 presidential 
candidate. (Note: Aquino and Lacson have a long-standing 
relationship; Aquino served as an immediate subordinate to 
Lacson in various high-level police positions from 1992-2000. 
 End Note.) 
 
------------------------ 
Politicians Discuss Case 
------------------------ 
 
4.  (U) Several well-known politicians have been cited in the 
press discussing the case.  Senator Lacson, for example, told 
local media on September 13 that he had received information 
from Aquino.  On September 15, former president Joseph 
Estrada, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., and 
Paranaque Representative Roilo Golez told the Philippine 
Daily Inquirer that they, too, had received email messages 
from Arroyo and/or Aragoncillo.  However, each of these 
politicians claimed that he had received no sensitive or 
classified documents.  Lacson said in a September 13 
interview that the information he received from Aquino simply 
concerned developments in the Philippines that had been 
reported in the media and other "gossip." 
 
------------ 
GRP Reaction 
------------ 
 
5.  (U) Presidential Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a 
September 14 press briefing that the President was not 
troubled by the US authorities' arrest of Michael Ray Aquino. 
 Bunye stated that the Philippine Consulate in New York would 
extend Aquino the usual assistance given to Filipino citizens 
in similar situations, such as ensuring that his rights were 
protected.  President Arroyo, who was in New York attending 
the 2005 World Summit of the UN General Assembly when the 
story broke, stated on September 19 in a televised interview 
that, because the case was a matter of U.S. law, she would 
not intervene in any way and otherwise had no comment on it. 
 
6.  (SBU)  Secretary of the Philippine Department of Justice 
Raul Gonzalez at a September 14 press conference said the GRP 
was "bound" by the U.S.-R.P. extradition treaty and would 
readily turn over to the U.S. any Filipino public officials 
implicated in the alleged espionage case.  However, in a 
September 15 interview, Gonzalez appeared to backtrack from 
his earlier statement, saying the government would respect 
the extradition treaty, but that any proceedings regarding 
possible extradition(s) also needed to follow Philippine 
laws.  Gonzalez said it was premature to discuss the 
legalities of the case since the FBI had not unsealed the 
documents implicating Aquino and Aragoncillo in the espionage 
case as of yet.  He further argued that if the reports were 
true that former President Joseph Estrada and Senator Panfilo 
Lacson were among the public officials involved in the 
espionage case, the USG may face additional complications in 
trying to extradite them, as both enjoyed "certain levels of 
immunity." 
 
7.  (U) National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director 
Reynaldo Wycoco told the press that his organization was 
mandated to arrest and extradite whomever the FBI might 
implicate in the case against Aquino.  However, he noted that 
the extradition process was a long one and no arrests would 
be made unless proper legal procedures were followed.  NBI 
officials also asserted to the local press that the FBI had 
sought its assistance in gathering additional evidence in the 
case. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Purported U.S. Documents Cited in Press 
--------------------------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU) A leading English-language newspaper, The 
Philippine Daily Inquirer, claims to be in receipt of some of 
the documents allegedly stolen by Aragoncillo and Aquino, and 
has begun publishing purported excerpts.  In its September 18 
edition, it quoted at length from an alleged U.S. document 
(of unspecified origin and possibly a compilation of several 
other documents) written last April, expressing fears of a 
coup in the Philippines.  The next day, the paper quoted from 
a second, similar alleged document, written in June, which 
claimed that the situation in the Philippines had changed and 
that a coup was unlikely.  On September 20, a third article 
quoted from a third alleged document, dated July 2005, that 
also downplayed coup fears while continuing to express 
concern over political instability in the Philippines. 
 
---------------------------- 
Allegations of U.S. "Spying" 
---------------------------- 
 
9.  (SBU) Several politicians and others have taken the 
allegations about the classified FBI reports as evidence that 
the U.S. is "spying" on the Philippines.  House Minority 
Leader Francis Escudero told the press on September 15 that, 
"We should be more concerned about what the governments of 
other countries are doing to us, even if they're our 
friends."  Several left-wing groups also accused the U.S. of 
spying.  Carl Anthony, spokesman for the leftist group 
Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, asked rhetorically in a 
September 15 interview, "What is the FBI doing with those 
classified information (sic) in the first place?  They have 
no business with our internal affairs." 
 
10.  (SBU) Charge responded to this criticism in an informal 
interview on September 15, saying that confidential analyses 
of a country's political situation are "normal."  In her 
televised interview on September 19, President Arroyo 
dismissed claims that the U.S. was spying on the Philippines 
as mere speculation. 
 
 
JOHNSON