n Thursday, May 3rd, 2006, former FBI intelligence analyst Leandro Aragoncillo admitted in Federal Court to spying for plotters in the Philippines who want to overthrow President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In a plea-bargain with Federal Prosecutors, Aragoncillo was spared the death penalty but may have to serve from 15 to 20 years in prison. One of Aragoncillo's four-count indictment: conspiracy to transmit national defense information, could have carried the a death sentence.

Aragoncillo directly implicated former PAOCTF (Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force) police official Michael Ray Aquino, who like him has been behind bars in the US since September.

In a separate development across the Pacific the same day, Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Myra V. Fernandez ordered the arrest of Aquino and Cesar Mancao (also a former PAOCTF police official) for the murder of public relations man Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito in 2000. Michael Ray Aquino and Cesar Mancao were both right-hand men of Sen. Panfilo Lacson who during Joseph Estrada's administration headed this nefarious task force.

Aragoncillo's guilty plea acknowledges that there indeed was a plot to overthrow President Arroyo's government. And US prosecutors have already fingered Estrada and Lacson as possible co-conspirators. This should make it easier for President Arroyo and her investigators to get to the bottom of this conspiracy. It was after all her government Aragoncillo and company sought to topple.

Filipinos the world over would like to see Philippine investigative agencies apprehend the masterminds behind these destabilization efforts and put them behind bars where they belong. Inciting rebellion or seeking to overthrow an internationally-accepted and legitimate government is after all a very serious crime. With the conviction of Aragoncillo, the US has given Philippine agencies an opening for their investigations.  Let's see some heads roll for a change and not the usual whitewash and cover-up.

Tell Pres. Arroyo to remain tough on those
who try to destabilize the government.

 

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