Manila says espionage case is US business

[struggle4progress]

Thu Oct 6, 7:43 AM ET

MANILA - The Philippine government distanced itself on Thursday from a widening U.S. espionage scandal involving a former Philippine citizen, saying it was an internal American matter.

The White House said on Wednesday it was cooperating with an investigation into former U.S. Marine Leandro Aragoncillo, who worked in the vice president‘s office and later at the FBI .

Aragoncillo, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested last month and accused of downloading classified FBI reports and sending them to political figures in the Philippines.

"We consider it as the business of the U.S. government and we will not be making any further comments," said Ignacio Bunye, the spokesman for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. <snip>

http://www.heraldnewsdaily.com/stories/news-0082167.html


Fil-Am tagged in White House espionage case
The Philippine Star 10/07/2005

<snip> In July 2004, Aragoncillo began working as an FBI intelligence analyst at its Fort Monmouth Information Technology Center in New Jersey and began sending classified information and documents in January, according to an FBI criminal complaint released by the US Justice Department in September.

The documents’ contents have not been made public.

From May to Aug. 15 of this year, he printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified "secret," according to the criminal complaint. <snip>

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/News200510070401.htm

[stillcool]

1. boy is this a convoluted story or what?

From this article:
EX-LACSON AIDE NABBED IN U.S. FOR ESPIONAGE
http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/hl/hl102815.htm

WASHINGTON, September 14, 200

In US–NBI In Manila, the National Bureau of Investigation said the FBI will also file charges of espionage before a US court against a current high ranking official, a former high ranking official and a second-level high ranking official" of the Philippines.

NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco yesterday said that based on the information they gathered from their sources, the FBI would also be including the three others in their charge sheet.

[BrotherBuzz]

2. I think the documents in question contain dirt on...

the present Philippine administration, and I suspect they desire the story to die a quiet death rather then the 'Secrets' be speculated upon, questioned, and sensationalized in the press during the court proceedings.