I got chocolates, not info, from US spy – Albano

Representative Rodolfo Albano III (1D, Isabela) denied Wednesday obtaining classified White House information on Philippine politics from confessed Filipino-American spy Leandro Aragoncillo, who is facing espionage charges in the United States. Albano told GMA 7's DZBB that he could not have acted as a "conduit" between President Arroyo and Aragoncillo because he never got anything from the latter except imported chocolates. "Nagdadala ng tsokolate sa akin yan eh, [pero] kaibigan ko actually ang mga amo niyan. Ayoko na magbanggit ng pangalan sino ang amo niyan. Hindi ko talaga siya naging kaibigan," he said. Newspaper reports on Wednesday alleged that Albano was among the Philippine politicians who supposedly received documents and information "stolen" by Aragoncillo from the White House and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Aragoncillo, a former FBI intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty before a US court that he illegally obtained the information and passed it to Philippines political figures to help an attempt to overthrow the Arroyo government. Albano regularly furnished President Arroyo, the report said, with information and documents from Aragoncillo even when she was still vice president. The former FBI analyst was allegedly unaware that Albano was "working" for the Arroyo government. Newspaper reports also suggested Albano may have passed on information from Aragoncillo even when Mrs. Arroyo was still vice president. Albano claimed it is the American government that is at fault for allowing Aragoncillo to take classified information from it and leak it to personalities in the Philippines. He said that if it were up to him, he would protest the espionage that the United States had done to the Philippines, which it considers an ally. Aragoncillo was arrested and charged last year for espionage for allegedly taking classified Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents.-GMANews.TV