MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang has expressed concern over the massive leak of sensitive US diplomatic messages but is not interested in finding out the information related to Manila.
Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the diplomatic cables concerning Manila, which reportedly spannedbetween 1966 to February 2011, have nothing to do with the Aquino administration which started its term last June. “The cables apparently were cables from February 2010 backwards. So there is nothing on the Aquino administration. So we have nothing to say on that matter,” Lacierda said in a press conference in the Palace.
Lacierda added that they have not seen the US documents illegally obtained and released by WikiLeaks and is unaware if the materials are authentic.
He also assured that the country's relations with Washington will not be affected by the release of the sensitive US diplomatic cables to the public. He said the regular exchange between the government and its diplomatic posts abroad on vital concerns and issues was the “rule of the embassy.”
“Embassies are required to perform certain functions and one of them is really to observe the temperature of the place of your stations so that is common,” he said.
But Lacierda admitted that the Palace was “bothered” that sensitive voluminous information was illegally obtained from the US State Department.
Genalyn Kabiling, Manila Bulletin
