Michael Ray denied bail in US

WASHINGTON — A US judge has denied bail to cashiered Philippine National Police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino on the grounds that he is a flight risk.

Michael Drewniak, spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, told The STAR Judge William Walls issued the order based on arguments that Aquino is a trained intelligence officer who is also facing murder charges in the Philippines.

Walls also considered Aquino’s lack of ties in the United States and an outstanding deportation order against him due to his lapsed visa, he added.

Walls gave the prosecution 60 more days to build its case against Aquino before trial.

Aquino has been detained in a New Jersey federal facility since Sept. 10 on espionage charges.

Mark Berman, Aquino’s court-appointed lawyer, had requested bail pending trial, but Walls denied the request during a one-hour status conference.  

Assistant US Attorney Karl Buch, the lead prosecutor, had requested a 90-day continuance to give the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and other government agencies more time to review classified materials that may have been compromised in the espionage case.

Rather than grant Buch’s 90-day request, Walls ordered prosecution and told defense attorneys to return to court on March 14 for another status conference to determine the next step in what the prosecution has described as a "complex case."

Depending on what happens in the intervening period, the prosecution could ask for a further continuance or report it is ready to proceed with the trial, Drewniak said.

Berman has been pressing for a speedy trial.

He had previously requested that several people from the Philippines not named in the indictment be deposed as defense witnesses, but this suggestion was not taken up in Wednesday‘s hearing, the spokesman said.

Aquino is accused of conspiring with a former FBI intelligence analyst, Filipino-American Leandro Aragoncillo, in passing classified information to political opposition leaders in the Philippines.

Aquino was indicted on Oct. 6 on one count of conspiracy which carries a jail sentence of up to five years, and one count of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Aragoncillo, a US citizen, faces a third count for downloading classified US government information and transferring it to his private computer.

This offense carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

The classified documents Aquino and Aragoncillo are accused of transmitting reportedly contained analyses of the Philippine political situation conducted by the US government.

Aquino, a protégé of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, an opposition leader closely allied with ousted President Joseph Estrada, is being held in solitary confinement at the Passaic county jail in Paterson, New Jersey, indicating the seriousness of the charges against him.

Accompanied by his wife and son, Aquino left Manila for the United States in 2001 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 of 2000.

Upon arriving in New York, Aquino studied nursing and passed the board examinations in 2004. His wife is a caregiver.

Meanwhile, Estrada said Aragoncillo might have passed classified information to Filipino officials out of deep love for the Philippines.

"His only fault was… being overly concerned about his relatives and fellow Filipinos," said Estrada.

"Even if he was already at the FBI and a naturalized American, he still has a Filipino heart," he said.

However, Estrada said he did not believe that Aragoncillo passed along classified information for money.

"The only thing I gave him was two dinners, one in Malacañang and another in a hospital where I was confined. Nothing else," he said. Estrada and Aragoncillo had met when the former president was still in power.

Estrada said he did not regard Aragoncillo’s actions as espionage because the materials sent were about political developments that had been widely reported in local newspapers, such as popularity surveys and unflattering accusations against top politicians.

"I don’t believe the guy sent those materials in bad faith," he said. "What’s spying there when there was nothing new in the downloaded materials? Everybody knew the contents... I read them in newspapers."

Asked if US authorities should treat Aragoncillo with leniency,

Estrada said: "I believe so. If I can only tell US authorities, the guy has nothing."

The US government has invoked its Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the Philippines to obtain dossiers on a number of Filipinos who might have received information from Aragoncillo, the National Bureau of Investigation said. — With AP