ManilaMailDC.Net - PROTECT SPYS. RIGHTS -NaFFAA

PROTECT SPY’S’ RIGHTS -NaFFAA

DETROIT, Michigan — The National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) passed a resolution Oct. 8 urging the US government to “vigorously protect the civil rights of a Filipino American FBI analyst who have been accused of spying for a foreign government.
The resolution was approved during a two-day Midwest regional empowerment conference at the Detroit suburb of Troy, Michigan. The delegates, led by NaFFAA national chair Loida Nicolas Lewis and regional chair Ed Navarra, expressed their concern over the civil rights of Leandro Aragoncillo, a Filipino American of Woodbury, New Jersey who is now detained for allegedly passing classified information to some Philippine government officials.
NaFFAA appealed to the US government “to vigorously protect” the civil rights of Aragoncillo, noting the “chilling effect” of the arrest to the immigrant communities.
The delegates expressed their support for Aragoncillo’s right to due process, including an “expeditious investigation” and a fair trial.
“We are neither condoning nor condemning what he’s been accused of doing. But in this country, a person is innocent until proven guilty. We simply want to ensure that his rights as an American citizen are secured,” Navarra, who introduced the resolution during the conference.
The resolution grew out of a panel discussion on civil rights and social justice during the conference’s Kapihan sa Leavitt ng Nayon sponsored by the Chicago, Illinois-based NPC-Phil. U.S.A. headed by Journal Group Limited’s Joseph G. Lariosa.
Citing similar cases involving other Asian Americans, “notably scientist Wen Ho Lee and the military chaplain James Yee,” NaFFAA National Chair Loida Nicolas Lewis noted that charges against them were dropped for lack of evidence. “But those charges have an insidious effect of silencing an immigrant community because we are more vulnerable to these kinds of accusations, and we carry a greater burden of proving ourselves as law-abiding citizens.”
Lewis added that NaFFAA will “work closely with other civil rights organizations in educating law enforcement agencies, the media, the American public and our own community about the need to be vigilant in the face of threats to our civil liberties, to speak out strongly - and not acquiesce in silence - against government actions that tend to create a climate of intimidation and fear.”
WASHINGTON D.C. – A Filipino American arrested in New Jersey last month for alleged spying and passing on classified information to opposition officials in the Philippines may plead guilty to the charges, according to Joseph G. Lariosa, a journalist based in Chicago.
Lariosa said Filipino American Federal Bureau of Investigation analyst Leandro Aragoncillo has asked and was granted by US District Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz for a postponement of his case for 60 days while he is conducting a “plea agreement” with the US government.
Arrested with Aragoncillo was former Phlippine National Police officer Michael Ray Aquino who allegedly received the documents and forwarded them to opposition leaders in Manila. Both are detained in a jail in New Jersey. (See related story on GMA reaction to the expose elsewhere in this issue)
In New York, meanwhile, Aquino was indicted by US federal prosecutors Oct. 6 for spying and conspiring with a former Federal Bureau of Investigation officer to pass on classified documents to Philippine officials. Aquino was charged with conspiracy and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
Lariosa said that in her “order of continuance,” Shwartz reminded Aragoncillo that he has the right to have his case submitted to a “grand jury within 30 days of his date of arrest.”
ABC-TV news, which first broke the story here said Oct. 6 that former President Joseph Estrada and his aides were responsible for recruiting Aragoncillo in July 2000 during his state visit to the United States.
It said Aragoncillo was among the White House personnel of Filipino ancestry who was introduced by President Clinton to Estrada. There are wild claims that Aragoncillo was paid by the Estrada camp to spy. It is claimed that the ex-marine was neck-deep in debt and therefore needed the money.

< B> By Joseph G. Lariosa