Ninez comments on the espionage case

Here's the article. It would be silly talaga kung ang laman lang ng "classified info" ay mga newspaper clippings at assessment galing sa US embassy (na probably common knowledge na sa atin):

Gloria Arroyo and her Malacañang aides should be more worried over the case of espionage involving an American Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and Michael Ray Aquino, since most of the information, as reported in the local press, focuses on the negative US analyses of Gloria and her government.

Quite frankly, what was so “confidential” about the information which would generally be based on information gathered by foreign embassy officials, apart from local newspapers, and both the administration and opposition figures? And if such information is taken from Philippine political personalities, they can't be all that accurate, since the tendency would be for one to inflate, or deflate information to serve one's point.

As for information culled from the local press, that can hardly be called confidential.

As the embassy officials have already claimed, it is “normal” for foreign embassies to gather information on a host country

If this was of importance to the US government, it is probably because a law on passing information was deemed violated and from the reports in the media, the information passed on was generally low-level information which will hardly affect the US homeland security.

Why the Philippine government is making this a big issue in the country can probably be traced to the fact that the National Bureau of Investigation has long been wanting to get Michael Ray Aquino, along with Sen. Panfilo Lacson and naturally, the Arroyo administration will always point to detained President Joseph Estrada's alleged involvement, which was why the destabilization angle was again at the forefront.

What Gloria and her officials probably wanted was to neutralize the political opposition and to get the upper hand in the move to unseat her.

But Arroyo officials are barking up the wrong tree, considering the fact that if it is the destabilization angle they are pushing, it would then mean that the US isn't too keen on Gloria remaining in power, given the negative information on her government. By now Malacañang should have realized that this controversy has done it more harm than good.

They must have done so already, since all too suddenly, the Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, quickly made a turnaround and says it will be difficult to get local officials extradited, as we have our own laws, apart from saying Estrada, Lacson and others, have diplomatic immunity. First time this was ever said, incidentally.

The funny part is that while the Arroyo administration says it will fight the bid for the extradition of so-called “high level officials” linked to the espionage case, the US government has hardly given official or unofficial notice it is seeking the extradition of these officials, nor has it named them.

So why isn't Malacañang complaining about the fact that the US officials are spying on the country and its officials? This should the reaction of Philippine officialdom, not that of getting high on Michael Ray Aquino being arrested for espionage.

It is the Arroyo government that has been making all the noises of extraditing these high level officials involved in the espionage.

Yet what was their involvement, and can this be proved even in a US court?

And if Michael Aquino did pass on the information, what crime would, say, Lacson, or Sen. Nene Pimentel, or even Estrada have committed, especially in this country where information and disinformation are being leaked out and churned out in the media as “gospel truth?”

As Estrada said, when one is in detention, one gets to read anything — including the paper that served as wrapper for the fish.

Kit Tatad, for his part, said this was Malacañang's way of diverting attention from charges of lying, stealing and cheating all of which have not found any closure.

But whatever information or disinformation or misinformation was passed on is obviously more damaging to Gloria and her government than the political opposition, if it comes to that and it would be even more embarrassing if this goes to court where the information will be made public.

This is probably the reason Gonzalez has now come up with the stand that the government will give the US a hard time if it asks for the extradition of Philippine officials, even when such is not being sought.

Even more embarrassing is that this case of espionage came at a time when Gloria was off to New York for the UN security meet over which she had presided.

But that she is still worried over her political future showed when she claimed that she is today politically stronger. She isn't, and she knows it.