Local News 11

Mango's Local News and Info

Archive 11

December 2004 - December 2005

Note: These articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the Management, Staff and Employees of Mango's.

RP making progress in anti-corruption drive
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star
December 21, 2005

Believe it or not, the Philippines is making headway in the fight against corruption. This is according to government consultant on anti-corruption Tony Kwok who also called on the media yesterday to avoid being cynical about the government’s anti-corruption efforts. "The media should play an active role in reporting these kinds of good things that the government has done in fighting corruption," Kwok said. A Hong Kong native who spearheaded the former British crown colony’s drive against corruption for 27 years, Kwok said the recent surveys tagging the Philippines as one of the most corrupt countries in Asia were not based on scientific evidence.

Kwok said the polls were the result of the perception of respondents, most of them foreigners. This was the reason why the media and the public as a whole should actively take part in the government’s fight against corruption, he said. "The biggest enemy in fighting corruption is people’s cynicism, because they are not optimistic, because they are resigned to the (idea) that corruption is our way of life," Kwok said. Compared to the last 16 years where the conviction rate of the Office of the Ombudsman had reached only 14 percent, Kwok said the last two years posted a more than 30-percent success rate.

"In the last two years, the number of dismissals (of government officials) was actually more than the total number of dismissals caused by the Ombudsman for the last 16 years," Kwok noted. "So I’m going to be fair and say that, in this country, from the outside point of view, the Philippines has a corruption problem. But I am also convinced, and I have been here for two years, a lot of progress has been made by the Office of the Ombudsman and this needs to be given fair coverage by the media," he stressed.

In a recent survey released by the Hong Kong-based think-tank Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd., multinationals perceived corruption to be growing worse in Thailand and the Philippines. Compared to these two countries, the same survey noted the corruption rate in other Asian countries was perceived to be declining. Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) Chairwoman Constancia de Guzman also agreed the perception of foreign businessmen and entities might be unfair and inaccurate. The perception was reported amid policies instituted by the government to prevent corruption in its line agencies, she said.

De Guzman released a list of the agencies and their ratings, saying they had implemented measures to address the problems. The ones that landed in the "honor roll" were the Department of Health, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Science and Technology and the Office of the President. Those in the "horror roll" include the Bureau of Immigration, Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Justice and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Manila - What's in a name? Plenty for collectors driving up the price of a small number of Philippine 100-peso bills with the president's name misspelled.

The notes, worth about $1,87 (about R8), are legal tender but their relative rarity attracted starting bids of $9,99 (about R60) each in a sale of four of them on Internet auction site eBay due to end later on Tuesday. The central bank said in November an "insignificant" number of the bills - with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's last name spelled "Arrovo" with a "v" - were released. Demand is outpacing supply.

"There are, in fact, orders from our store but we do not know where to get more of the bills," the Businessworld newspaper quoted Liza Rama Esposo, an antiques dealer in Manila, as saying. The peso, often hurt by political uncertainty, has been the best-performing currency in Asia this year.

EVEN if we won our gold medals fair and square, can we blame other countries for thinking that we cheated in the Southeast Asian Games? No less than Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra accused the Philippines, the SEA Games host, of cheating. But can we blame them, given the reports that we ourselves announce to the world about our country?

Election fraud. Cheating in the board and bar exams. Corruption in government and in the private sector. Foreigners falling victim to holdup men and con artists. Policemen fleecing foreign tourists. These are news items about the Philippines that reach foreign countries. And, let’s face it, cheating is prevalent in our society. We admire cheats as long as they don’t get caught.

A couple of years ago, winning entries to the Manila Film Festival were announced on stage. The names of the winners were not called; the losers were the ones whose names were announced. “Take it, take it,” said the emcee of the show to an actress who didn’t win in the tally but who was called on stage to claim the winner’s trophy.

Sen. Alfredo Lim, then the mayor of Manila, couldn’t stomach the shenanigans and went up the stage to denounce the fraud. There was a big scandal and an investigation was conducted. But nothing came out of the investigation. The “pasimuno” (mastermind) of the blatant cheating lay low for a while from the limelight. But where is she now? She is the host of a popular show biz show. People have forgotten what she did.

It’s a case of the boy who cried “wolf” too often for our country. Even when we’re honest, other nations don’t believe us. I am not being unpatriotic in playing the devil’s advocate in the SEA Games controversy but somebody’s got to tell us the view from outside. Let’s go to Saudi Arabia that employs millions of Filipino workers. Do you know what most Saudis think about Pinoys? Oh, you wouldn’t want to hear this, but the general perception in that country is that Filipinos are thieves!

When Filipinos window-shop in the flea market in Saudi Arabia, the shopkeepers keep close watch on them. Why? Because many shops, especially those selling jewelry, have fallen victim to the Pinoy’s salisi method of stealing. “Salisi” means taking advantage while the storekeeper is busy with the other customers. I once had a friend who had an employment agency that sent doctors and nurses to the United States. She said many hospitals that hired foreign doctors and nurses complained of pilferage of hospital equipment by the Filipino staff.

During the time of Imelda Marcos’ travels abroad, hotels where she and her entourage stayed would give allowance for pilferage of hotel bed sheets, towels and other small items, and charge the theft to the Philippine government. You want to listen more to the Pinoy’s propensity for taking things that don’t belong to him?

Here goes: After the Americans left Clark Air Base in Pampanga, there was massive pilferage of items within the former US military base. Even the toilet bowls in the former houses of servicemen were stolen. Many of the looted items taken from Clark were found in a restaurant and a house in Cebu owned by a military general who was still in the active service at that time.

The saving grace was the state of the former Subic Naval Base after the Americans had left: Nothing was lost only because Richard Gordon employed strong-arm methods in dealing with thieves. It’s natural for us to get hurt—very hurt—by the accusation that we’re a nation of cheats. But we have to face reality: We have destroyed our reputation as a nation because of reports that come out in the media about our country.

As the police chief in the movie “Casablanca” said: “Round up the usual suspects.” We are the usual suspects.

Philippines Officers' Club Moves to FlORIDA
By MELISSA NELSON, Associated Press Writer
November 26, 2005

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The garish, red paisley carpeting is here, as are the red-leather bar stools and the shuffle board table. The names of the past are here, too, engraved in wood by the Filipino artists who, over the years, recorded the exploits and humor of some of the U.S. Navy's most celebrated pilots. It'd be easy to think the Cubi Bar was back at its home base in the Philippines. But this officers' club that served decades of squadrons is now at home serving military personnel and visitors at the Pensacola Naval Air Station.

Nearly a dozen years ago, the famed club was shut down by a volcanic eruption. It now welcomes many of the same pilots who passed through it on their way to and from deployments to the western Pacific. On a recent afternoon, Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, was among a group of retired Navy and Marine pilots enjoying lunch at the cafe.

"There's a lot of naval history in this room. If these walls could talk, you would have one hell of a story," he said. "It might need some editing and censoring, but you'd have one hell of a story." The Cubi Bar, which took its name from an acronym for Construction Unit Battalion One, closed after Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991. When the United States later decided to pull troops from the Subic Bay, the bar's fate was sealed.

But a place so dear to so many of the Navy's top pilots could not be left behind. Navy Capt. Robert Rasmussen, director of the National Museum of Naval Aviation and a former Blue Angel pilot, sent a letter to the Subic Bay commanding officer suggesting the bar be preserved. He learned the commanding officer already had sent a letter to the museum suggesting the same thing. "Cubi Point was without a doubt the center of Naval aviation in the postwar years, especially during the Vietnam conflict," Rasmussen said.

So the bar was dismantled and packed into crates, along with a fair amount of volcanic ash. It arrived in Pensacola in 1992, and Rasmussen oversaw its reconstruction, down to its exact specifications. The Cubi Bar Cafe opened in 1996. It features more than 3,000 colorful squadron plaques from the original club that flight squadrons would commission from local artists and present to the bar before returning home from a deployment.

The plaques, which list the names of individual squadron members, are often not plaques at all but ornate carvings of anything from birds to mermaids to chess pieces. They range from the size of a large poster to human-sized carvings of various creatures. The ornate squadron carvings include an airplane with its fuel line attached to a beer bottle, an ace of spades, a white rabbit in a tuxedo, an Indian chief head and an armored knight. Some bear slogans such as "VS-21 Fighting Red Tails" and "The Last Real 'Harriers in WestPac."

But many of the original plaques aren't displayed in the rebuilt Cubi Bar: They were determined to be too risque for a family atmosphere, said bartender Donnalene Miller. The new Cubi Bar Cafe doesn't serve the 15-cent beer-and-hot dog special available in the old bar, but it does offer San Miguel beer imported from the Philippines for $3.00 a bottle. The relocated bar has a familiar feel despite its new location, said Cmdr. Jeremy Gillespie, a former P-3 Orion pilot who found his Patrol Squadron 22 plaque in the back wall of a dining room. "You can close your eyes and hear Filipino artists imitating the Mamas and the Papas or Jimmy Buffet," he said.

Retired Col. Denis J. "Deej" Kiely, a Marine pilot, said those who lived through the Vietnam days occasionally return to find the names of friends who didn't make it back. The Cubi Bar was a good place to come during a hellish time, he said. "It was a relief that you were still surviving and you could put it out of your mind for a while that you would have to go back and do it again," Kiely said.

Cernan, who passed through the Cubi Bar as a naval aviator in the late 1950s before joining the space program, said the bar is about tradition and camaraderie. Cernan hasn't found his name among the squadron plaques and believes his is among those in storage. "It doesn't make a difference whether my name is here or not," he said. "I left a lot of memories, thoughts and memories here."

Charges that six US Marines stationed on Okinawa raped a woman in the Philippines isn’t sitting well with anyone on the island, even as the case becomes confusing. Six Marines are thought to be involved, and five have been detained in the Philippines after charges were filed by the Olongapo District Prosecutor’s Office. The Marines, assigned with the III Marine Expeditionary Force here in Okinawa, are being held by the U.S. Embassy.

Confusion surfaced this week, though, as a principal witness in the rape case says he was forced to make statements incriminating the GI’s to police. The vehicle driver whose van was allegedly the place where a 22-year-old Filipina was raped and assaulted, has told officials it didn’t happen and that he will withdraw the statement made to police.

A public prosecutor says that will force perjury charges against the driver. Philippine newspapers identify the driver as Timoteo Seriano. Subic Bay police say Seriano’s testimony has been kept under wraps because it offered graphic details of the rape. The Marines are part of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Hansen, and were in the Philippines along with 4,500 others to participate in military exercises. The Marines left the Philippines earlier this month, leaving only the five accused men behind.

Philippine reaction has been mostly negative, and Okinawans have been angry as well. Upon learning the men have not been turned over to Philippine authorities, Suzuyo Takazato of the Socialist Party said “This scandal must never be forgiven. Americans do more violence and it’s becoming excessive.” Citizens on the street are saying Americans have lost credibility with Okinawans.

Five men are in custody of the U.S. Embassy. The identity and whereabouts of the sixth rape perpetrator are unknown. The U.S. Embassy in Manila, for its part, says “We are taking very seriously this matter. We are ready to fully support the Philippine investigation.”

MANILA (AP) — Five U.S. Marines who participated in counterterrorism exercises were barred from leaving the Philippines Thursday after being accused of raping a woman in a former U.S. naval base, officials said. A rape complaint against six Marines that was filed with a state prosecutor alleged that the crime occurred late Tuesday at the Subic freeport, a sprawling industrial and recreation hub northwest of Manila. However, only five Marines were identified and barred from leaving the country, officials said.

Philippine authorities briefly delayed the departure of the warship USS Essex while searching for the Marines accused of assaulting a 22-year-old woman. The ship left without the five Marines, who were placed under the custody of the U.S. Embassy, said Jose Calimlim, deputy administrator of the freeport. "The U.S. takes reports of violations of U.S. and Philippine law by U.S. military personnel very seriously, and will fully cooperate with the Philippine authorities in the investigation of this incident," the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. The U.S. military was investigating the five Marines, embassy spokesman Matthew Lussenhop told The Associated Press.

The Philippine government immediately expressed concern about the alleged crime, which was condemned by left-wing militants opposed to the presence of American troops for counterterrorism training with Filipino soldiers. The United States has been helping the Philippine military battle the al-Qaeda-linked extremist group Abu Sayyaf in the south. "The perpetrators of this heinous crime shall be brought to justice," Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo told a news conference.

Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the left-wing Bayan group, condemned the alleged rape and called for the immediate suspension of planned U.S. exercises. "The Philippine must take a tough stance and immediately demand that these Americans be placed under Philippine criminal jurisdiction," he said. The woman told investigators she met the six Marines in a disco at the freeport, where they had drinks. The Marines later brought her to their rented van, where she allegedly was assaulted, Calimlim said. Feliciano Salonga, chairman of the Subic freeport administration, said the woman was wearing only her underwear when found later.

"There was a young woman who was hysterical after being dropped by a dark-colored vehicle without any clothes on," Salonga told GMA television. "It was obvious she was intoxicated and incoherent." Calimlim said the Marines' commander initially wanted to take them back to their base in Okinawa, Japan, but Philippine authorities insisted they remain here while the investigation continues.

"We said you can't leave unless those involved are left behind," he said. The role of the U.S. military has long been a divisive issue in Philippine society. The United States ruled the Philippines as a colony for nearly 50 years until 1946 and continued to maintain a strong military presence until 1992, when the last U.S. base was closed by the Philippine government.

Subic Security Chief Axed Over Spate of Robberies
Philippine Star
November 3, 2005

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT - Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman Feliciano Salonga has ordered the immediate suspension of Freeport's law enforcement chief to give way to a "full-dress" investigation into the series of robberies inside the special economic zone. "The disturbing situation has caused embarrassment to the SBMA leadership and tainted the reputation of the Freeport as a safe and secure economic zone, Salonga told THE STAR. Last Monday, burglars carted away P 1.8 million in cash from the "highly secured" SBMA treasury office in administration building 229.

Freeport authorities have sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and other law enforcement agencies to put an end to the spate of robberies. Salonga said the suspension of Col. Jaime Calungsad, head of SBMA's law enforcement department (LED), would prevent him from interfering in the investigation. "We are not discounting the possibility that some LED members, including Calungsad himself, could be accomplices to the crime," he said.

Investigation showed that the burglars were able to open the safety vault of the SBMA's treasury department without being detected by the Freeport's security officers who are equipped with high-tech, closed-circuit TV cameras and other surveillance gadgets installed inside the building. The robberies have reportedly victimized Chowking, the Monkok Chinese restaurant, Italian bistro A Tavola, Anne's Kitchen and Wimpy's restaurant. Burglaries were also reported in the supposedly secure housing areas in Kalayaan and Binictican where investors and SBMA officials reside.

Salonga revealed that the vacation house of former Philippine National Police Chief, now Public Highways Secretary Hermognes Ebdane was burglarized not just once but thrice. There were also break-ins in the houses of prominent politicians and businessmen. Ironically, Salonga said these robberies remain unsolved.

The Freeport has 862 security personnel composed of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) members, Forest Rangers, and men of the K-9 anti-bombing squad, and harbor and security patrol group, overseeing the 67,452-hectare sea and land boundaries of the sprawling special ecozone. "We must admit, so the public would know that there is indeed, a series of unsolved burglary cases and it has been approaching epidemic proportions," Salonga said. Investors have asked SBMA officials to replace Calungsad with a more competent security chief to maintain peace and order in the Freeport.

Int'l survey rates RP's corruption severe
By Doris C. Dumlao
Inquirer News Service
October 19, 2005

NOT ONLY was the Philippines ranked among countries with severe corruption problems -- its rating in a new survey even sank lower compared to last year's. On a scale of one to 10 -- with 10 as the "cleanest" -- the Philippines got a score of 2.5 based on the 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released yesterday by global corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI).

The Philippines was thus among 70 countries -- comprising nearly half of those included in the TI index -- that scored less than 3 on the latest CPI, indicating a "severe" corruption problem. The country ranked 117th, a sharp fall from its 102nd place in last year's survey. "Corruption isn't a natural disaster: It is the cold, calculated theft of opportunity from the men, women and children who are least able to protect themselves," said David Nussbaum, TI's chief executive.

"Leaders must go beyond lip service and make good on their promises to provide the commitment and resources to improve governance, transparency and accountability." RP is 117th among 159 Among the countries included in the index, corruption was perceived as most rampant in Chad, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Burma (Myanmar) and Haiti, which scored 1.7-1.8. They were also among the poorest countries in the world.

The Philippines' score deteriorated from last year's 2.6 in the coalition's CPI. Out of 159 countries rated, the Philippines placed 117th in a tie with Afghanistan, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guayana, Libya, Nepal and Uganda. More than two-thirds of the 159 nations surveyed by Transparency International scored less than five in this year's rating. The 'cleanest' On the other hand, the top 10 scorers were Iceland (9.7), Finland and New Zealand (9.6), Denmark (9.5), Singapore (9.4), Sweden (9.2), Switzerland (9.1), Norway (8.9), Australia (8.8) and Austria (8.7). The United States ranked 17th with a score of 7.6 and Japan shared the 21st ranking with Chile at 7.3.

The CPI is a composite survey, reflecting the perceptions of business people and country analysts, both resident and nonresident. The composite survey also draws on 16 different polls from 10 independent institutions. But the index provides only a snapshot, with less capacity to offer year-to-year trends. The 2005 index bears witness to the double burden of poverty and corruption borne by the world's least developed countries, TI said.

"Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it," said TI chair Peter Eigen. "The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty." Extensive research shows that foreign investment is lower in countries perceived to be corrupt, which further thwarts their chance to prosper, according to TI. But when countries improve governance and reduce corruption, they reap a "development dividend" that, according to the World Bank Institute, can include improved child mortality rates, higher per capita income and greater literacy.

The TI report noted that 19 of the world's poorest countries had been granted debt service relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, testifying to their economic reform achievements. However, not one of these countries scored above 4 on the CPI, indicating serious to severe levels of corruption.

The coalition said these countries still faced the grave risk that money freed from debt payments now entering national budgets would be forfeited to greed, waste or mismanagement. It said the commitment and resources devoted to qualifying for HIPC must also be applied to winning the fight against corruption. Stamping out corruption and implementing recipient-led reforms are thus seen as critical to making aid more effective, and to realizing the crucial human and economic development goals that have been set by the international community.

An increase in perceived corruption from 2004 to 2005 can be measured in countries such as Costa Rica, Gabon, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay.

Graft in rich countries Conversely, a number of countries and territories show noteworthy improvements -- a decline in perceptions of corruption -- over the past year. They include Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Qatar, Taiwan and Turkey. The report said wealth was not a prerequisite for successful control of corruption. A new long-term analysis of the CPI carried out by corruption expert Johann Graf Lambsdorff showed that the perception of corruption had decreased significantly in lower-income countries such as Estonia, Colombia and Bulgaria over the past decade.

In the case of higher-income countries, such as Canada and Ireland, however, there has been a marked increase in the perception of corruption over the past 10 years, showing that even wealthy, high-scoring countries must work to maintain a climate of integrity. Sharing the burden Similarly, the responsibility in the fight against corruption does not fall solely on lower-income countries, the report said.

The TI said wealthier countries, apart from facing numerous corruption cases within their own borders, must share the burden by ensuring that their companies were not involved in corrupt practices abroad. It also said offenders must be prosecuted and barred from public bidding. Government secrecy The opportunity for ensuring sustainable progress also lies in the hands of the World Trade Organization, which needs to actively promote transparency and anticorruption in global trade, the coalition stressed.

"The lessons are clear: risk factors such as government secrecy, inappropriate influence of elite groups and distorted political finance apply to both wealthy and poorer countries, and no rich country is immune to the scourge of corruption," the report said.

Estrada Says He Was Given U.S. Document
Ex-Philippine President Cites Paper Provided by Espionage Suspect
By Alan Sipress and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
October 7, 2005

MANILA, Oct. 6 -- Former Philippine president Joseph Estrada says he first met Leandro Aragoncillo during a state visit to Washington in August 2000, when President Bill Clinton invited Aragoncillo and about 20 other Filipinos who worked at the White House to greet Estrada.
Some time later, Aragoncillo met Estrada again -- but this time, he handed the deposed president a three-page internalU.S. analysis of political developments in the Philippines. Estrada said the document had originated at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

The former president's account provides further evidence that Aragoncillo may have stolen U.S. documents while he worked as a military security official in the vice president's office. Officials say the case could represent the first allegation of espionage inside the White House in modern times.
Aragoncillo was charged last month with downloading more than 100 documents while working as an FBI intelligence analyst earlier this year. Officials revealed this week that the probe has expanded to include his earlier years at the White House.

The Justice Department and FBI are investigating whether Aragoncillo stole classified material while assigned to Vice President Cheney's security detail, and provided it to Estrada and other opposition politicians in the Philippines. ABC News has reported that Aragoncillo admitted to stealing records while on Cheney's staff. Authorities are also investigating whether documents were stolen during Vice President Al Gore's tenure.

FBI counterespionage agents are investigating whether Estrada or other opposition politicians recruited Aragoncillo and whether a second defendant -- a former Philippines national police official -- was part of a planned intelligence operation. One official familiar with the probe said Aragoncillo was paid to steal the information.

Court documents filed in New Jersey this week show that Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, N.J., is cooperating with prosecutors and is in the midst of plea negotiations. The second man, Michael Ray Aquino, 39, is not cooperating and was indicted in Newark Thursday on charges of conspiracy to obtain classified information and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

Interviewed by telephone at his secluded vacation estate, where he remains detained on corruption charges, Estrada said he could not remember the date that Aragoncillo gave him the U.S. document. But he said it occurred when Aragoncillo came to see him sometime in the two years after Estrada was ousted as president, in January 2001. "This document was about the graft and corruption happening in the country. It's nothing new," Estrada said, comparing it to accounts in Philippine opposition newspapers.

Aragoncillo, a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, was first detailed to the White House as administration chief of the vice presidential security detail in July 1999 and served through February 2002, the Pentagon said. Bush administration officials have refused to provide further details on the case or to reveal how Aragoncillo gained a top-secret security clearance at both the White House and the FBI. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said during an unrelated news conference Thursday in Washingtonthat aides assigned to the White House complex are generally vetted by the agency they work for, but said he did not have details of the Aragoncillo case.

"We take all investigations, of course, very, very seriously, particularly investigations that might involve jeopardizing very sensitive information relating to the actions of our government," Gonzales said. Michael Feldman, a spokesman for Gore, declined to comment, referring questions to the FBI.
U.S. investigators have said the documents were sent to a former high-level Philippine official and two current high-level Philippine officials but have not identified them. All are opposition politicians seeking to topple President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who replaced Estrada after he was forced from office over accusations that he enriched himself off gambling kickbacks.

Estrada, once a popular movie star, is one of several Philippine politicians who have acknowledged receiving documents from the two suspects. Another, Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, who unsuccessfully challenged Arroyo in presidential elections a year ago, said in an interview last week that he had obtained e-mails from Aquino but that they were neither sensitive nor unusual. Estrada said in the interview that he had a close relationship with Aquino, even accompanying him to the altar at Aquino's wedding seven years ago. Estrada said they have not been in contact in recent years.

Aquino left the Philippines for the United States in July 2001. At the time, he was under indictment in the Philippines for involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a public relations executive who had quarreled with Estrada, and the man's driver. Estrada also spoke warmly of Aragoncillo, calling him a friend and recounting their first meeting during the 2000 White House visit. Estrada told reporters at the time that Clinton "introduced me to each of the 21 Filipino staff at the White House like they were part of his family, which, in turn, made me very proud." Soon afterward, Aragoncillo came to Manila and visited the presidential palace with his wife to meet Estrada, Estrada recalled.

In 2001, Estrada was unseated by mass demonstrations that erupted when an effort to impeach him broke down in the Philippine Congress. Estrada was detained and later that year incarcerated in the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Manila, where he remained until 2003. He said Aragoncillo visited him in the hospital and joined him for lunch. The former president said a personal bond had been established. "He still has that Filipino heart," Estrada said, noting that Aragoncillo came from a relatively poor family. "He knows I am a president who was pro-poor, and he is pro-poor. That's why he was so worried about what's happening in our country today."

Since the final meeting, Estrada said he has spoken with Aragoncillo once or twice by telephone, most recently last year. "It was to say hello, talk about what was happening in the Philippines and what was happening in Iraq," Estrada recounted. "He told me what was happening in Iraq." When he learned last month that Aragoncillo had been charged with illegally providing classified information to Philippine officials, Estrada said he was shocked. He said he did not believe the former Marine had done anything illegal or worked to help opposition politicians in the Philippines.

Aragoncillo was honorably discharged from the Marines with the rank of gunnery sergeant and went to work a year ago as an FBI analyst at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Federal investigators allege he used his top-secret clearance to download classified documents from the FBI, CIA and State Department relating to his birthplace and conspired with Aquino to forward the material by e-mail, telephone and text message.

Eggen reported from Washington. Correspondent Ellen Nakashima in Jakarta and researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON - The FBI is investigating whether a former Marine took classified information from the White House when he worked in the vice president's office and passed it to Filipino officials, U.S. government officials said Wednesday. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, a 21-year Marine veteran who became an FBI intelligence analyst last year, already has been charged in New Jersey with passing classified information about Filipino leaders to current and former officials of that nation. Aragoncillo worked at the White House from 1999 to 2001 and was assigned to the vice president's office under both Al Gore and Dick Cheney.

White House officials said they were aware of the investigation but would provide no details. "It is an ongoing investigation and as such all questions should be directed to the FBI," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "We are cooperating fully with the investigation." Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the department would not comment on an ongoing investigation, first reported Wednesday evening by ABC.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said investigators were examining all of Aragoncillo's postings where he had access to classified information, including the White House. Aragoncillo was hired to work at the Army's Fort Monmouth, N.J., in July 2004 and began sending classified information and documents in January, according to an FBI complaint made public last month. 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. He sent some of the material to Michael Ray Aquino, a former deputy director of the Philippines national police who lives in New York City, the complaint said. Both men were arrested Sept. 10 at their homes and ordered held without bail following an appearance before a federal magistrate.

After his arrest, Aragoncillo "essentially admitted that he took classified information," Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl H. Buch told the magistrate. Aragoncillo is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the Philippines. He had top secret clearance. A Philippine opposition senator has acknowledged that he received information from Aquino. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, a former national police chief under whom Aquino served, said he and "many others" received information passed by Aquino, but he played down the value of the reports, describing them as "shallow information."

Last month, Newark U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said there was no evidence that the administration of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was involved, but he would not say if the suspects were in contact with opposition factions. The Asian nation has been beset by persistent coup rumors since Arroyo was accused of rigging last year's elections. Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales said his office wrote to the FBI to ask for copies of documents that will emerge in the investigation, but that the U.S. government has not responded.

"A crime has been committed in the United States," he told The Associated Press in Manila. "Two Filipinos are involved and we don't know what classified documents they got, so we want to know because it might affect the national security situation in this country."

He said bits of information that can be gleaned from the charge sheet against Aragoncillo show there could be some information used to destabilize the government. He did not elaborate. Gonzales said he was on the phone Thursday with Philippine Ambassador to Washington Albert del Rosario, who told him that the Philippine Embassy was keeping tabs of the Aragoncillo case.

Philippines junks old fighters to buy helicopters
Source: Reuters
By Manny Mogato
September 30, 2005

MANILA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The Philippines has shifted its military focus to communist and Muslim rebels from external threats, the air force said on Friday as it junked its fleet of ageing jet fighters in favour of buying more helicopters. Lieutenant-Colonel Restituto Padilla, an air force spokesman, said the remaining five of its 34 F-5A/B planes will be formally decommissioned on Saturday at an airbase north of Manila after 40 years as the country's primary air defence tool.

"The F-5 will never fly again," Padilla told Reuters. "The resources to sustain the operations of the fighters had been re-channeled due to our changing national priorities." The Philippines, a close ally of the United States, has one of the most ill-equipped armed forces in the Asia-Pacific region, which patrol the nation's 7,000 islands with World War II-era navy boats and aircraft dating from the Vietnam War.

Soldiers fighting communist and Muslim rebels also depend on second-hand U.S.-made trucks, assault rifles and other gadgets. Padilla said about 100 million pesos ($1.8 million) allocated to upgrade and maintain the F-5 fighters under the 2005 budget was transfered to an air force programme to buy several U.S.-made UH-1H "Huey" helicopters of Vietnam War vintage.

A portion of the fund was used to maintain propeller-driven OV-10 planes, a counter-insurgency weapon in bombing and close air support operations, he added. The Philippines had acquired 20 upgraded Huey helicopters from Singapore for nearly $12 million in July 2004 to strengthen its creaking air force.

Manila is still awaiting delivery of up to 10 Hueys from the United States, after paying $7.3 million for repairs to the aircraft last year. The Philippines has about 80 Hueys but only about 60 percent are in flying condition. A senior air force official told Reuters the Philippines may opt to buy five more Hueys from Singapore this year, using funds that were earmarked for the F-5 planes under the 2005 budget.

The Philippine military said a squadron of Italian-made S-211 trainer jets -- refitted with machine guns, rockets and bombs -- would fill in the gap left by the F-5s. Internal military documents seen by Reuters showed that defence assessments predicted no immediate external threats to the Philippines. From the early days of the Cold War in the 1950s to the current war on terrorism, Manila has been one of Washington's closest security allies in Asia. Elite U.S. troops train and advise local units in counter-insurgency operations.

Among armed forces in the region, the Philippines was the first to enter the jet age in 1957 when the United States delivered the F-86D plane, known as the "MiG killer" for shooting down nearly 800 Russian-made MiG-15s during the Korean War. In 1965, the F-86D "Sabre" was replaced by the F-5A/B "Freedom Fighter" when Washington delivered 23 of the low-cost and low-maintenance aircraft. Later, another 11 F-5s were added, including five transfered from the South Korean air force.

About 35 carrier-based F-8H "Crusader" planes were delivered to Manila in 1977 but were phased out in 1988 due to disrepair and several accidents that earned it the nickname "widow maker". Padilla said the last time an F-5 was flown was in May 2001 during joint military exercises with United States in the northern Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines - Former first lady Imelda Marcos' vast collection of shoes, gowns and jewels worth $10 million could soon be auctioned off, a Philippine official said Thursday. Ricardo Abcede, of the Presidential Commission on Good Government that has recovered ill-gotten wealth of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and his family, said his agency is looking at whether her possessions should put up for sale.

"I believe that with all the publicity generated by Imelda Marcos ... the jewelry collection and other items would be (worth) much, much more than the appraised value," he said. "There are also eccentric collectors, they might be interested in the shoes or in the gowns." International auction houses Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams have expressed interest in holding the auction for the jewelry collection, initially estimated to be worth at least $10 million.

At the height of her husband's power, Marcos gained notoriety for shopping trips to the world's swankiest boutiques, glitzy parties and lavish beautification projects in the midst of the Philippines' grinding poverty. When the Marcoses fled the Philippines at the climax of a "people power" revolt, Imelda Marcos left hundreds of gowns and 1,220 pairs of shoes behind at the presidential palace.

The shoe collection, including many expensive foreign-made brands, astounded the world and became a symbol of ostentation. Some of the shoes have been turned over to a shoe museum in suburban Marikina city. The presidential palace museum displays Imelda Marcos' five locally made pairs of satin shoes, at least two of her gowns, and her bulletproof vest, parasols, paintings, silverware and period pieces of furniture.

FBI Intel Analyst Charged With Spying
By JEFFREY GOLD, Associated Press Writer
Sept 12, 2005

An FBI intelligence analyst with top secret clearance who worked at a New Jersey Army base was charged Monday with passing classified information about Filipino leaders to current and former officials of that nation. The analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, sent some of the material to Michael Ray Aquino, a former deputy director of the Philippines National Police who lives in New York City, according to an FBI complaint unsealed with the arrests.

Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, was hired to work at Fort Monmouth in July 2004 and began sending classified information and documents in January, according to the complaint. From May to Aug. 15, Aragoncillo printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified "secret," the complaint said. Details of the documents' contents were not disclosed in court papers or in court.

The investigation by immigration authorities began after Aquino, 39, was arrested in March, accused of overstaying the tourist visa he used to enter the country in July 2001. Aragoncillo, a Marine for 21 years, and Aquino were ordered held without bail following an appearance before a federal magistrate.

The defendants face a charge of conspiracy and a charge of acting as unregistered foreign agents, the latter of which carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine. Aragoncillo also was charged with unauthorized use of a government computer, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

ANGELES CITY — A total of 10 cybersex models most of them minors were rescued by policemen during a raid in a cybersex den in Bgy. Balibago, here, last Friday. Senior Superintendent Policarpio Segubre, Angeles City Police Office, director, said the rescued models were brought to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The team led by Supt. Ronaldo de Jesus, ACPO intelligence and investigation chief, armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Philbert Iturable of the Regional Trial Court Branch 58, Angeles City raided the cybersex den inside a house in Diamond Subdivision, Bgy. Balibago here, at about 8:30 p.m., said Segubre.

The alleged operator of the cybersex den — a certain William "Bill" Keith Baird, an American national and a certain Candy Tuazon, maintainer, escaped from the raiding team through the backdoor, he said. Confiscated from the house were 10 computer units complete with monitors, keyboards webcams, scanners, dildos and other sex toys.

Segubre said the busting of another cybersex den was the result of a week-long surveillance at the house. Charges of violation of laws against pornography and trafficking of women have been filed in court against Baird and Tuazon. The latest cybersex den raid was the 11th busted by police within two years.

Earlier, Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit-3 has busted two cybersex dens in Bgy. Balibago and Henson Ville Subdivision, Bgy. Malabanias, both in Angeles City. The alleged operator at the Balibago cybersex den was identified as James Paul Kelly who was arrested, where six models were rescued.

An internet café, owned by couple Tom Dessey, an American national and his wife Virginia, suspected to be a cybersex den was also busted by CIDU-3 operatives who rescued seven women. The couple escaped during the raid.

International and domestic passengers and even Philippine Airlines (PAL) employees have been greatly inconvenienced by the poor air-conditioning and out-of -service escalators, elevators and electronic flights information display systems (FIDS) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Centennial Terminal (NAIA 2) for more than a month now.

Due to a hefty unpaid bill of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) with the International Elevator Equipment Inc. (IEEI ), the local distributor and maintainer of the Mitsubishi elevators and escalators at the said terminal, both international and domestic passengers using NAIA-2 will have to keep using the stairs for what could be a long period of time.

This is due to a declared intention of MIAA to review the amount being demanded by the IEEI for the upkeep of the elevators and escalators for a period of three years. The unserviceable escalators and elevators have taken their toll on passengers, especially the elderly and disabled, Philippine Airline (PAL) employees said.

In the case of the busted FIDS system, or the network of electronic monitors scattered throughout both the domestic and international areas at the terminal, PAL would have to make do by manually writing the information using markers and white boards and white sheets of paper for an uncertain period of time.

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