Michael Ray Aquino
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Michael Ray Aquino is a former intelligence officer in the police force of the Philippines. He is accused of involvement in a 2000 political murder, and more recently, has been accused of helping to transmit classified information from the United States to opposition leaders in the Philippines.
Aquino's career in the Philippine police included serving as Deputy Directory of the Intelligence Group and as senior superintendent of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (now defunct). He served under President Joseph Estrada, and remained politically loyal to Estrada after Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rose to power. In 2001, he and Cesar Mancao were charged in relation to the killing of Bubby Dacer, a former public relations official for Estrada. He left the Philippines and moved to New York.
In March 2005, Aquino was arrested for overstaying his visa. He contacted his friend Leandro Aragoncillo, a Philippine-born security specialist at the White House, to seek assistance. Aragoncillo's efforts eventually led to him being investigated, and in the course of that investigation, evidence of espionage was uncovered. Aquino was accused of helping Aragoncillo transmit classified United States documents regarding President Macapagal-Arroyo to her opponents in the Philippines, including both Estrada and current opposition leader Panfilo Lacson, who had been Aquino's superior in the police force. Under a plea bargain agreement, Aquino entered a guilty plea to illegal possession of classified documents, but avoided the more serious charge of espionage which Aragoncillo received.
Aquino faces a jail sentence of between 70 and 87 months plus a $250,000 fine. He is expected to be sentenced in March, 2007.
