Former FBI Analyst [Leandro Aragoncillo] Pleads Guilty to Spying

[pandisal]

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Former FBI Analyst Pleads Guilty to Spying

NEWARK, N.J. - A former
FBI intelligence analyst pleaded guilty Thursday to passing classified information to plotters allegedly trying to overthrow Philippine President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
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In a federal court hearing, the former analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, outlined five years of efforts to pass top secret and secret information. He worked as a military aide to vice presidents
Al Gore and
Dick Cheney starting in 1999, and later became a civilian employee of the FBI.

Aragoncillo, 47, did not identify by name the current and former Philippine officials to whom he gave secrets, though he implicated former Philippine police official Michael Ray Aquino, who was arrested with him in September.

Aquino is accused of passing information from Aragoncillo about Filipino leaders to current and former officials of that nation.

Federal prosecutors identified among the participants in the plot former Philippine President
Joseph Estrada, opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson and former House of Representatives Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Newark. The efforts appear related to efforts to unseat Arroyo, according to FBI charges.

Estrada last week denied suggestions by U.S. prosecutors that he conspired with Aragoncillo to overthrow Arroyo.

...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/espionage...kxBHNlYwN0bQ--

[grabehbebe]

Palace to Erap: Keep your head down


Malacañang advised yesterday former President Joseph Estrada and Sen. Panfilo Lacson along with other opposition leaders to "keep their heads down" in the wake of their alleged involvement in a spying scandal in the US revealing efforts to overthrow the Arroyo administration.

Palace officials led by presidential adviser on political affairs Gabriel Claudio said the nation could expect less political noise with opposition members fending off allegations of involvement in the US espionage case against Filipino-American Leandro Aragoncillo and former police senior superintendent Michael Ray Aquino.

"Mr. Estrada and company will now have to lie low until this problem blows over and distance themselves from moves to destabilize the government more convincingly than their previous denials of involvement," Claudio said.

He said the espionage case in the US would have a sobering effect on the political climate in the Philippines which would give way to a period of calm.

Claudio said the whole nation could take advantage of the situation to forge greater harmony and focus on generating economic reforms for the people.

"Mr. Estrada and other opposition leaders are clearly on the defensive and must keep their heads down because they know they could be in a whole lot of trouble facing the possibility of indictment in the US as co-conspirators of Aragoncillo and a rebellion case against them domestically," Claudio said.

"(This is) all because of their own doing," he added.

Solicitor General Eduardo Antonio Nachura said Estrada, Lacson and the others implicated in the espionage case would just have to be ready to face the charges against them by the US government.

"The guilty plea of Aragoncillo will have serious implications, I suppose, on the others who might be involved," Nachura pointed out.

Nachura said Aragoncillo might have been advised to cut a deal with the prosecution considering the gravity of the offense and its national security implications.

"Maybe he (Aragoncillo) was advised to enter into a plea bargaining," he said.

Aragoncillo, a former US marine who worked at the White House and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as an intelligence analyst, on Thursday admitted having passed classified information to Filipino opposition politicians to help an attempt to overthrow President Arroyo.

During his indictment before a US district judge in Newark, New Jersey, Aragoncillo detailed how he was able to pass classified information to his Filipino recipients through Aquino for five years.

Aragoncillo directly implicated Aquino as his conduit in the US.

Like Aragoncillo, Aquino was also arrested in September last year. He is accused of passing information he gathered from Aragoncillo to opposition politicians in Manila.

Aquino pleaded not guilty to the charges and was denied bail by the US federal court for being a flight risk.

Though Aragoncillo did not name the current and former Filipino officials to whom he gave secrets, federal prosecutors identified Estrada, Lacson and Camarines Sur Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella as among the participants in the plot, according to documents filed in US District Court in Newark.

The efforts appear related to efforts to unseat Mrs. Arroyo, according to FBI charges.

Estrada repeatedly maintained the information he received from Aragoncillo were public knowledge.

Lacson, on the other hand, issued a statement yesterday saying the government should not capitalize on the Aragoncillo case in implicating him.

Nachura, on the other hand, pointed out Estrada, Lacson and the other Filipino politicians involved in the espionage case in the US would possibly have to face rebellion or treason charges here.

"They will have to face separate and different cases once they are charged here aside from the US," Nachura said.

Sen. Joker Arroyo, on the other hand, called on Malacañang "not to rub it in" and take it easy on Estrada and the opposition leaders involved in the spy case.

"The prudent thing is for the government to back off from trying to rope in President Estrada and company in the Aragoncillo case," Arroyo said.

The senator said the administration should refrain from playing up the Aragoncillo case as an opportunity to get even with Estrada and the opposition.

He said the Philippine government should take the passive role and refrain from getting actively involved in the espionage case.

"Ano pakialam ng Philippine government if the US government go against Erap? The Philippine government has nothing to do with it. The Philippine government is not obligated (to pursue, just in case)," Arroyo said.

The senator pointed out that no Philippine law was violated by Aragoncillo even though he admitted passing classified information to Estrada and other opposition politicians in the effort to unseat the President.

"What Aragoncillo allegedly did is a violation of US laws, thus the involvement of the FBI. No Philippine law has been violated. So let us not invent one just so we can ensnare Erap," Arroyo said.

Arroyo noted the plunder case against Estrada remains unfinished after almost five years.

He said another case against Estrada can be seen as an unnecessary offensive move from the government.

"We have not even finished the plunder case, why get entangled in another one which on its face is not our concern," Arroyo said. — Aurea Calica, Christina Mendez


The Philippine Star 05/08/2006
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200605080403.htm

[chilton82]

again...as a Filipino rises up...he fu*** up the position that was given to him...This would have been an honor for a Filipino, unfortunately....fu***** it up is more important.

[potterboy]

evidently, what erap was trying to say, "i'm an actor yah know... "

[Rance]

evidently, what erap was trying to say, "i'm an actor yah know... "

hehe

[omar50071]

Pwe...Pwe...Pwe....aboga oi...

suol man pud ako allergy ani...Inday, palihug ko palit claritin bhe....

Kinsa may ga ukay ani nga issue sa bodega oi....nganong nabanhaw naman pud ni?

[denzkie]

Pwe...Pwe...Pwe....aboga oi...

suol man pud ako allergy ani...Inday, palihug ko palit claritin bhe....

Kinsa may ga ukay ani nga issue sa bodega oi....nganong nabanhaw naman pud ni?

klaro ana para pagtabaon sa current issue against GMA administration about NBN-ZTE deal... ana man jud na ngita lain issue para ma lie low ang mga tawo!

[pandisal]

Ha? unsa kalabotan sa spy ni aragoncillo sa ZTE? wrong post ni? old issue naman ni nga discussion... peace!

klaro ana para pagtabaon sa current issue against GMA administration about NBN-ZTE deal... ana man jud na ngita lain issue para ma lie low ang mga tawo!

[denzkie]

Ha? unsa kalabotan sa spy ni aragoncillo sa ZTE? wrong post ni? old issue naman ni nga discussion... peace!

hahahaha,,,mao btaw na giutingkay na balik nga issue para matabonan ang kasagsagan nga issue sa ZTE_NBN para ma lie low ang mga tawo! logic rana siya bai,,, kabantay ka nga tanan issue batok sa administration naa dayon resbak ipagawas para mawala ang issue? ayaw ko ingna nga wala ka kabantay ana? hehehehehe....

[omar50071]

klaro ana para pagtabaon sa current issue against GMA administration about NBN-ZTE deal... ana man jud na ngita lain issue para ma lie low ang mga tawo!

Thanks bro for bringing that up, mao diay...

@Rance
Nabisto brod?