MANILA, Philippines - Former President Fidel Ramos on Wednesday said the leak of the US State Department's "secret cable" should be investigated if the matter involved is of national interest.

In an interview, Ramos said information in the documents must be verified as it is possible that some of them may have been manufactured.

"They are not really reliable. It's possible that some of them may have been manufactured. You have to accept that possibility. That's the way it is just like the social media it's not completely factual. I'm not saying these are lies, they may be exaggerations of concoctions to fit a certain situation," Ramos said.

The cables that allegedly came from the US embassy in Manila have yet to be published, but Ramos believes if his name was mentioned in one of the documents it should also be investigated.

"I can't comment on speculation but if my name is involved there and it comes out in a leak it's okay to investigate it. It may be good or bad but it is probably going to be good anyway," he said.

The umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan earlier said the leakage of 250,000 cables and transmissions from 274 US embassies worldwide has exposed the real nature of United States diplomacy towards its own allies.

The controversial leak included confidential orders from the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking US officials to gather intelligence information on members of the United Nations Security Council and the UN Secretary General. The US sought to get the biometrics, computer passwords, credit card numbers and frequent flyer numbers of key diplomats in the UN.
 
Questionable dealings between the US and its client-states were also exposed in the controversial leak.
 
In the Philippines, some 1,796 files were said to have come from the US embassy in Manila, dealing with various issues such as terrorism, military operations, military aid and human rights. The Manila files have yet to be released by WikiLeaks.

Leaks may be misinterpreted

President Benigno Aquino said that while he champions freedom of information, he thinks the release of leaked cables by Wikileaks may cause misinterpretation of facts, adding those behind the leak may have an agenda of their own.

“We are championing freedom of information but at the same time, meron ding nagsabi yung little knowledge is deadly. Yung nakabasa ka ng libro sa medicine, feeling mo siguro pwede ka na maging surgeon hindi siguro ganun yun," he told reporters.
 
Given the leaks, the President said the security of government’s communications should be tightened but says he wants everything to be transparent as long as “it does not endanger national security.”
 
“Sa pagbibigay ng impormasyon...baka may sarili ring agenda. Imbes na magkaroon ng kaliwanagan, baka lalong hindi ma-discern, lalong hindi ma-appreciate ang information. Pag kinuha out of context, nagbabago nang husto yung inilalabas. Kaya kailangan nga natin, medyo ayusin yung operational security. Of course, yung sa atin, parang yung kinokover na period, hindi pa naman natin nadatnan, tsaka pinipilit naman natin na pag may pag-uusap, as much as possible, so long as it does not endanger national security, we want it done in broad daylight and we want to be very visible and transparent.”  With a report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News