By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

(© 2011 Journal Group Link International)

C HICAGO (jGLi) – Michael Ray Aquino does not want to prolong his stay in United States jails anymore.

On May 26, 2011, the former Philippine police officer wrote the United States Court of Appeals at the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that he “does not intend to file a petition for writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court of the United States.”

In a one-page letter to U.S. Court Clerk Marcia M. Waldron obtained by this reporter Friday (June 17), Mr. Aquino, who turned 45 last May 12, signing “pro se” (his own lawyer), wrote: “Undersigned appellant wishes to inform the Honorable Court, through the Office of the Clerk, that appellant does not intend to file a petition for writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court of the United States, and hereby waives the right to file said petition.”

His waiver appears to be surprising because in his hand-written letter to this reporter last Feb. 10, 2011, Mr. Aquino said, “I’ll exhaust all available legal remedies within the bounds of the criminal justice system here and in PH (Philippines.)”

Following the denial of his petition for rehearing of his habeas corpus by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit last April 25, 2011, Mr. Aquino has 90 calendar days, including weekends and holidays, within which to file a petition for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The 90th day would have fallen on July 24 (next month).

Last June 13, 2011, Philippine Justice Secretary Leila de Lima announced that she has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to send two agents to the United States to fetch Aquino before July 3.

Apparently tipped-off by Mr. Aquino’s waiver, the U.S. State Department issued a surrender warrant against Aquino, an indication that all is set for his extradition to the Philippines.

LETTER RECEIVED JUNE 15, 2011

M r. Aquino’s letter was only posted on the court records on June 15, 2011. Mr. Aquino’s prosecutors never confirmed to this reporter getting a copy of the waiver until Friday.

Unless Aquino is able to answer the $120-million civil suit pending before the Northern District Court of California in San Francisco, where he is one of the defendants and unless there are no other pending cases involving him in other courts, he should be well on his way to his extradition to the Philippines.

It will draw to a close Aquino’s more than five years of stay in U.S. prisons since he was arrested on Sept. 10, 2005, at his residence at Queens, New York, for conspiring with a former FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Filipino-American intelligence analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, of passing classified information to current and former officials the Philippines.

Aquino won an appeal to a reduction of his spying sentence from 36 to 46 months in February 2009. But before he could be released after serving 41 months to time served, the Philippine government sought his extradition for allegedly playing a part in the conspiracy of abducting, carnapping and strangling Filipino publicist Salvador Dacer and Dacer’s driver in November 2000.

Meanwhile, Aragoncillo, who did not appeal, is still serving prison time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Loretto in southwest Pennsylvania. He is due for release on May 28, 2014.

When Aquino returns to the Philippines, he will likely be kept in Manila City Jail, which is under the Regional Trial Court, which will try him in the murders of Dacer and Corbito.

CHANGE OF HEART

It is possible the recent discharge of Mr. Aquino’s former superior then General-turned-Senator Panfilo “Ping” M. Lacson from criminal information by the Philippine Court of Appeals that was affirmed by the Philippine Supreme Court might have influenced Mr. Aquino to have a change of heart in waiving his right to appeal his habeas corpus before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Philippine Court of Appeals cited Aquino’s co-accused Cezar O. Mancao’s alleged inconsistencies in statements he gave to television interviews and his sworn statements in finding “null and void” information against Lacson and quashing Lacson’s warrant of arrest.

Mr. Aquino even used the decision by the Philippine Court of Appeals in the Lacson case as part of his supporting documents submitted to the Third Circuit but the certified documents mailed to the court must have come too late as the same U.S. court denied Mr. Aquino’s last-minute appeal.

When the Philippine Department of Justice will open a re-investigation of the double murder, it will start from scratch and would likely not be solely dependent on Mancao’s statements but on other testimonies from other witnesses and other accused.

There are nearly two dozens mostly police officers, who carried out the sensational double murder, that extend to the chain of command, including Lacson and former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada. Both Lacson and Estrada had denied any part of the murders that carry a penalty of maximum life in prison. # # #

Editor’s Note: To contact the author, please e-mail him at: (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)