It’s Aragoncillo CD vs Lacson’s ‘Hello, Garci’

The Department of Justice has received from the US State Department not one but 12 compact discs (CDs) and two volumes of documents used as evidence in the trial of convicted former Federal Bureau of Investigation analyst Leandro Aragoncillo and former police officer Michael Ray Aquino. These documents supposedly had the names of Aquino’s "unindicted Filipino co-conspirators," Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Wednesday. Gonzalez said US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales furnished the DOJ copies of the records of the court trial held in New Jersey where the espionage case and conspiracy against Aragoncillo and Aquino were heard. The documents, contained in 12 CDs, supposedly had the intercepted conversations of Aragoncillo and Aquino with some Filipino co-conspirators. Aside from the CDs, Gonzalez received from the US attorney general the court’s transcripts of the hearing and documentary exhibits that were used as evidence during the trial. Filipino American Aragoncillo, who used to work in the office of former US vice president Al Gore, was sentenced to 10 years in jail after pleading guilty of stealing classified documents and passing them on to Aquino, who himself was meted six years in prison. "I think we can start also the reopening of the Aragoncillo case here. I'm just transcribing thousands of documents that we have received from the court. We have received all documents of the trial. As a matter of fact, we have the assurance from the US prosecutors to testify here," he said. Gonzalez offered the information to reporters after he was asked to comment about the reopening of the "Hello Garci" scandal by Sen. Panfilo Lacson during a privilege speech wherein former T/Sgt Vidal Doble of the Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces (Isafp) appeared in a video tape to testify about the authenticity of the "mother of all tapes" of recorded conversations of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo with former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano on an alleged plot to rig the May 10, 2004 presidential election. "It's tit-for-tat. If they don't want to let sleeping dogs lie, it's all right," Gonzalez said, adding that the court documents from the US might "embarrass some people." Gonzalez said the documents were brought back by DOJ Undersecretary Ernesto Pineda from Newark, New Jersey, but that government lawyers have yet to determine what particular cases will be filed against the "unindicted co-conspirators" of Aquino. "If we find there are cases to be filed against the unindicted co-conspirators, we will file. There are testimonies here that mentioned about the Kuratong Baleleng case, they might embarrass some people if we have the goods against these people... If we use it, this will be damaging," he said. He was referring to the Kuratong Baleleng rubout case in the Supreme Court and the Salvador "Bubby" Dacer-Emmanuel Corbito double-murder case still pending at the Manila regional trial court, wherein Aquino and former members of the defunct Presidential Anti-Crime Commission stood charged. Gonzalez said that there were less than 10 names mentioned by Aquino as recipients of the classified information passed on by Aragoncillo. Without mentioning the names, he was apparently referring to Lacson, Aquino's previous superior at the PACC and former President Joseph Estrada. Other individuals who admitted receiving documents through email from Aragoncillo were former Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella; Estrada's sons, Senator Jinggoy and San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito and Senator Aquilino Pimentel. However, Gonzalez cleared that even if Lacson did not revive the Garcillano controversy, he would still have revealed the US documents to the public. "Lacson's privilege speech to have the Garci case reopened is an old story with new embellishments. Obviously the statement of Doble is also embellished. How could he say it's the President, he wasn't there when she and Garcillano were talking? Gonzalez said the military may invoke Executive Order 464 in refusing to attend an impending Senate reinvestigation of the case since the constitutionality of the edict has been sustained by the Supreme Court. "I think the military should refuse, unless the commander will allow it. The chain of command must be followed. Why are we going back to this? It's been over-investigated already," he said Last month, Gonzalez requested his US counterpart to be furnished copies of documents used during the trial of Aquino wherein he named his "unindicted Filipino co-conspirators." In his letter to the US Attorney General, Gonzalez pointed out that since Aquino's alleged co-conspirators, some of whom are national figures in the Philippines, have been identified, documents presented in court during the trial established the linkage between the accused and these "uninvited" individuals. He further said that the crimes for which Aquino has been convicted in the US are also crimes punishable under Philippine laws, and that the evidence presented were damaging and detrimental to the government. He also told Gonzales that the Philippine government expects Aquino to be deported to the country after he has served the remainder of his six-year sentence. - GMANews.TV