Palace: No reason to intervene in US espionage case vs Michael Ray

Malacañang will not intervene in the efforts of United States federal prosecutors who are seeking a 10-year prison term for former Philippine National Police Senior Superintendent Michael Ray Aquino for obtaining secret US documents to aid the local opposition in overthrowing President Arroyo.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the government will just closely monitor developments in Aquino’s case, which marked the first time a Filipino was involved in an espionage case in the US.

Leandro Aragoncillo, a Filipino-American and a former intelligence analyst of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is a co-accused in the case.

Aragoncillo, who was once connected with the office of US Vice President Richard Cheney, and Aquino were accused of stealing classified documents from the FBI and the White House.

"There’s no reason for the Philippine government to come up with any move. Like, that we should ask for his extradition. For what reason? We don’t have a reason," Ermita told reporters. "We will leave that to the Department of Justice if there is any reason for such a move."

He said Aquino, who was a close aide of opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson when the senator was PNP chief, had pleaded guilty to possessing secret US documents as part of an opposition plot to destabilize the government.

"We do not know what happens after that. I suppose he just has to serve his punishment unless there is some legal procedure that can affect that judgment," Ermita said.

Aquino, 41, pleaded guilty in July in a deal that spared him from life imprisonment if convicted of espionage, while Aragoncillo, 48, a former Marine who worked as a military aide to vice presidents Al Gore and Cheney starting in 1999, pleaded guilty to four charges in May.

Court documents said Aragoncillo and Aquino passed on classified information on the US government’s views on the Arroyo government to deposed President Joseph Estrada, Lacson, and former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella.

Estrada and Lacson have acknowledged receiving information from Aquino or Aragoncillo, but deny any wrongdoing.

US federal prosecutors said that the "serious disruption" Aquino caused to the American government outweighed any benefit he should receive for accepting responsibility in the conspiracy.

In a 97-page memo to US District Judge William Walls, who is to sentence Aquino in July, prosecutors said the former policeman also posed a "danger to the national security, including the foreign relations, of the United States" by attempting to destabilize and overthrow Mrs. Arroyo.

Lacson expressed confidence that Aquino would get the better part of the deal when he is sentenced by a federal judge in July. – With Christina Mendez