OUSTED President Joseph Estrada has denied receiving classified US government documents from a former Philippine National Police officer and a former US intelligence analyst found guilty of spying in the United States.In a deposition he sent to the lawyer of Michael Ray Aquino in the US, Estrada also said he neither solicited nor did he encourage either Aquino or Leandro Aragoncillo to filch US government files to pass on to him. “I never had an agreement with Leandro Aragoncillo, Michael Ray Aquino or anybody else to access classified US government documents in order to obtain information for myself or others or for any other purpose,” Estrada said.
Aquino was a former PNP officer who fled to the US years ago to escape charges in the murder of public relations man Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and the latter’s driver, Emmanuel Corbito. Aragoncillo is a former US Marine who joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as an intelligence analyst and at pne point worked in the white house.
He recently pleaded guilty to espionage for illegally obtaining classified information on Philippine leaders from White House computers and passing these on to Aquino, who in turn allegedly passed them on to Estrada and other personalities in the Philippines, including Senator Panfilo Lacson and former House Speaker Arnulfo “Noli” Fuentebella. Estrada sent the deposition last week to Marc Berman, Aquino’s lawyer.
Berman is expected to present EstradaÂ’s deposition to the New Jersey court hearing the espionage case against Aquino when the trial resumes on June 15. The American lawyer had been working to be allowed by the court to depose AquinoÂ’s alleged contacts in the Philippines. The proceedings are usually videotaped to be played back in the US court. Estrada, however, gave a written deposition.
In the paper he sent to Berman, Estrada said he was “not inclined at the moment to travel to the United States in the case entitled United States v Michael Ray Aquino.”
In other words; Cruise-on ta Luzon!
I never received classified US Government documents or information from Leandro Aragoncillo and/or Michael Ray Aquino by e-mail, telephone or text messages,” Estrada said in the deposition dated May 23. He said he didn’t even know that Aquino or Aragoncillo had access to US government files and were willing to steal these. “Michael Ray Aquino and/or Leandro Aragoncillo never told or even suggested that he/they were willing or able to access US government documents,” Estrada said.
I know nuttin!
In previous pronouncements to the local media, however, Estrada had said that there was nothing classified in the documents on the Philippine situation prepared by US authorities that he had seen. “There was nothing new but US Embassy reports to Washington about our economy, peace and order, corruption, human rights violations. I read them all in our newspapers every day,” Estrada was quoted as saying.
Estrada had told the Inquirer that he had shown the documents to people in the administration like Presidential Chief of Staff Michael Defensor and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales.
“If those were classified, why would I show them?” Estrada had said.
The "Fools Defense" Pflip style.