Karmic coincidence?

ON THE VERY day marking the 33rd anniversary of the declaration of Philippine martial law this week, a US federal court in New York will unseal the indictments of one "former national-level public official" and two "current national-level public officials" of the Philippines charged with conspiracy to obtain 101 "highly classified" documents from the FBI.

The "former" will most likely be deposed President Joseph Estrada who has already admitted to receiving the classified materials. One of the "current" will most certainly be Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who also admitted to receiving the documents but who downplayed their value. Lacson was the former boss of Michael Ray Aquino who was arrested by the FBI for espionage and conspiracy on September 10, along with FBI intelligence analyst Leandro Aragoncillo.

Is there a karmic significance to the coincidence of these two random events happening on the same day?

Let's analyze the facts. When Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972, it was with the full knowledge and support of the United States. Included in this support was US funding and training of the military officers used by Marcos to impose and maintain martial law from 1972 to 1986.

According to the impressive research of University of Wisconsin-Madison Prof. Alfred McCoy, Marcos' military officers were responsible for the regime's tally of 3,257 extra-judicial killings along with 35,000 tortured and 70,000 incarcerated.

Of the total number killed during martial law, "some 2,520, or 77 percent of all victims, were salvaged -- that is, tortured, mutilated, and dumped on a roadside for public display," disclosed Prof. McCoy in his speech "Dark Legacy: Human Rights Under the Marcos Regime," delivered on September 20, 1999 at the Ateneo de Manila conference on "the Legacies of the Marcos Dictatorship."

"Seeing these mutilated remains, passers-by could read in a glance a complete transcript of what had transpired in Marcos's safe houses, spreading a sense of fear," McCoy noted.

According to the eyewitness accounts of the torture victims and the families of the "salvaged" victims, the two main instruments of Marcos terror -- the equivalent of Hitler's Gestapo -- were the Metrocom Intelligence and Security Group (MISG) and the 5th Constabulary Security Unit (CSU).

The MISG's commander for 12 years was Col. Rolando Abadilla (PMA '65), the most feared torturer and executioner of Marcos. According to Prof. McCoy, he "towered over other heavies in that closed, tight-knit, psychotic club of martial-law enforcers."

According to his biography, Lt. Lacson joined the MISG right after graduation from the Philippine Military Academy (class of 1971). Lacson then spent the next 15 years in the MISG, rising to deputy commander under his mentor, Colonel Abadilla.

According to McCoy, whose book, "Closer Than Brothers: Manhood at the Philippine Military Academy" (2000 New Haven: Yale University Press), is an exhaustive study of the PMA Class of 1971, Lacson's class became the "fists" of Marcos' authoritarian rule.

"At the MISG, Colonel Abadilla and two comrades, Robert Ortega and Panfilo Lacson, tortured together for over a decade, forming a tight faction that would rise together within the police after Marcos's downfall," said McCoy.

After Marcos was deposed in 1986, the government of President Corazon Aquino did nothing to punish human rights violators within the military, perhaps intimidated by the seven military coup attempts staged against her.

Under President Fidel Ramos, former torturers were even elevated to positions of power including Lacson who was appointed chief of Task Force Habagat of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission (PACC) headed by then Vice President Joseph Estrada (who lobbied Ramos to appoint Lacson).

On May 17,1995, Lacson and his PACC men, including then Sr. Supt. Michael Ray Aquino and Sr. Supt. Cesar Mancao, arrested eight members of the Kuratong Baleleng Gang (KBG) for kidnapping for ransom. At the house in Superville Parañaque where they were arrested (along with $2M in ransom loot), the gang members were handcuffed, placed in a van and brought to Camp Crame, the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

When they reached Camp Crame, the men were kept in the van. Three minors were then added to the prisoners, including two vacationists from Dipolog. They were all then brought to Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City where, at about 4:30 a.m., their van was pumped with bullets. Lacson announced to the press that it was a "shootout."

On May 21, 1995, an eyewitness, SPO2 Eduardo delos Reyes, claimed in an affidavit that the killing of the Kuratong Baleleng members was a "rub-out," not a shootout.

Five days later, on May 26, 1995, SPO2 Corazon dela Cruz, another CIC investigator, executed an affidavit corroborating the affidavit of Delos Reyes. On May 31, 1995, Armando Capili, a reporter of Remate, executed an affidavit stating that he was present when the KBG members were arrested in Superville Paranaque.

On June 1, 1995, multiple murder charges were filed against Lacson and those who participated in the execution of the Kuratong Baleleng Gang.

But the case did not prosper for years until Estrada was elected president in May of 1998 and promoted Lacson to head the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF).

The witnesses to the Kuratong Baleleng massacre were by then housed in a witness protection program of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). After they realized that the case would go nowhere with Estrada as president and Lacson as head of the PAOCTF, they agreed to recant their testimonies in exchange for cash paid by Estrada crony Charlie "Atong" Ang (now in federal custody in Las Vegas).

With payment of cash, the families of the victims signed an "affidavit of desistance" prepared and typed by Sr. Supt. Michael Ray Aquino at the Copacabana Hotel where they were staying.

With the withdrawal of the witnesses' testimonies and the desistance of the victims' families, Estrada then appointed Lacson as chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in November of 1999.

In 2000, publicist Bubby Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, were abducted. According to Dacer family members, this occurred soon after Dacer was angrily summoned to Malacanang to meet President Estrada who
berated Dacer for his involvement in efforts to impeach Estrada.

In 2001, after Estrada was deposed by People Power II, a police investigation led to the discovery of the remains of Dacer and Corbito and the arrest of 11 members of the PAOCTF who confessed to their grisly torture-murder. One of the arrested officers, Col. Glenn Dumlao, pointed to Aquino and Mancao as the masterminds of the murders.

Before Aquino and Mancao could be charged in July of 2001 with this crime and the reopened Kuratong Baleleng case, the pair fled to Hong Kong with fake passports, using their real passports to then fly to the US where they found employment -- Mancao in Vallejo, California and Aquino in Queens, New York.

In March of 2005, Aquino was arrested by US immigration agents for overstaying his visa and placed in removal proceedings. Before he could be released on bond, Aquino was visited by Filipino-American FBI analyst Leandro Aragoncillo.

The visit piqued the interest of US Department of Homeland Security agents who then investigated Aragoncillo. The investigation later unraveled evidence that Aragoncillo had transferred 101 classified FBI files, from March to August 2005, to Aquino which he then forwarded to Lacson and Estrada. Investigation also showed that Aragoncillo had
received money from Aquino to pay for his services.

But where did the unemployed Aquino obtain the funds to pay Aragoncillo, who reportedly owed $500,000 in debts? Aside from Lacson and Estrada, who else was involved?

We do not know the answers yet so stay tuned. What we do know is that what goes around, comes around. It's karma time.

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