I.

Conflict:
TOPIC:“assassination benigno
“ninoy” aquino jr. that shook
the world”

Case study by:

Reymar m. rreyes
Marlene cuaresma
Joan ico
franciss jeff naron
rona llave
INTRODUCTION:
II. Review of the historical facts:
Related study

Assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr.

The assassination of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., former Philippine Senator, took place on Sunday, August 21, 1983 at the Manila International Airport
(later renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor). A longtime political opponent of President Ferdinand Marcos, he had just landed in his
home country after three years of self-imposed exile in the United States when he was shot in the head while being escorted from an aircraft to a vehicle
that was waiting to transport him to prison. Also killed was Rolando Galman, who was later implicated in Aquino's murder.

Aquino was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1967 and shortly thereafter began speaking out against Marcos's authoritarian rule. He was imprisoned on
trumped up charges shortly after Marcos's 1972 declaration of martial law. In 1980, he suffered a heart attack in prison and was allowed to leave the
country two months later by Marcos's wife, Imelda. He spent the next three years in exile near Boston before deciding to return to the Philippines.

Aquino's assassination is credited with transforming the opposition to the Marcos regime from a small, isolated movement into a national crusade. It is
also credited with thrusting Aquino's widow, Corazon Aquino, into the public spotlight and her running for president in the snap election of 1986. Though
Marcos was officially declared the winner of the election, widespread allegations of fraud and illegal tampering on Marcos's behalf are credited with
sparking the People Power Revolution, which resulted in Marcos fleeing the country and conceding the presidency to Corazon Aquino.

Though many, including the Aquino family, maintain that Marcos ordered Aquino's assassination, this was never definitively proven. An official
government investigation ordered by Marcos shortly after the assassination led to murder charges against 25 military personnel and one civilian; all were
acquitted by the Sandiganbayan (special court). After Marcos was ousted, another government investigation under Corazon Aquino's administration led
to a retrial and the conviction of 16 military personnel, all of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment. Since their conviction, one of the convicts was
pardoned, three died in prison, and the remainder had their sentences commuted at various times; the last convicts were released from prison in 2009.

Background

Benigno Aquino Jr. was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1967. During his first year as senator, Aquino began speaking out against the authoritarian rule
of President Ferdinand Marcos; Marcos in turn saw Aquino as the biggest threat to his power.

On September 23, 1972, Marcos declared martial law and ordered Aquino and others arrested and imprisoned on trumped up charges of murder and
subversion. Aquino went on a hunger strike to protest the injustice of his military tribunal but ended the strike after 40 days. The tribunal lasted several
years, all while Aquino was still imprisoned, and on November 25, 1977, he was convicted on all charges and sentenced to death. However, Aquino and
others believed that Marcos would not allow him to be executed, as Aquino had gained a great deal of support while imprisoned, and such a fate would
surely make him a martyr for his supporters.

In 1978, while still in prison, Aquino founded his political party, Lakas ng Bayan (abbreviated "LABAN"; English: People's Power) to run for office in the
Interim Batasang Pambansa (Parliament). All LABAN candidates lost, primarily to candidates of Marcos's party, amid allegations of election fraud.
In March 1980, Aquino suffered a heart attack in prison. He was transported to the Philippine Heart Center, where he suffered a second heart attack.
Doctors determined he needed coronary artery bypass surgery; however, no surgeon wanted to perform the operation out of fear of controversy, and
Aquino refused to undergo the procedure in the Philippines out of fear of sabotage by Marcos, indicating he would either go to the United States to
undergo the procedure or die in his prison cell. On May 8, 1980, First Lady Imelda Marcos arranged for Aquino and his family to leave for the U.S. He
underwent the coronary bypass surgery in Dallas, Texas and met with Muslim leaders in Damascus, Syria, before settling with his family in Newton,
Massachusetts.

Aquino spent the next three years in exile in the U.S., wherein he worked on manuscripts for two books and delivered several lectures and speeches
critical of the Marcos government. By 1983, news of the political situation in the Philippines led Aquino to return to his homeland, fully aware of the
danger that awaited him.

Aquino, after flying in a circuitous route from the United States to several Asian cities such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to meet Malaysian Leaders,
and then to Hong Kong, boarded a China Airlines plane in Taipei and landed in Manila on August 21, 1983.

Assassination

Prior to his departure from Taipei, Aquino gave an interview from his room at the Grand Hotel in which he indicated that he would be wearing a
bulletproof vest. He advised the journalists that would be accompanying him on the flight: "You have to be ready with your hand camera because this
action can become very fast. In a matter of 3 or 4 minutes it could be all over, and I may not be able to talk to you again after this."[1] His last few
moments in the flight while being interviewed by the journalist Jim Laurie, and just prior to disembarking from the flight at Manila airport, were recorded
on camera.[2]

On the morning of August 21, 1983, accompanied by his brother-in-law, ABC News correspondent Ken Kashiwahara,[3] along with other members of the
press, Aquino boarded China Airlines Flight 811 that departed Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. In Manila, a contingent of over 1,000 armed soldiers
and police were assigned by the government to provide security for Aquino's arrival. Flight 811 arrived at the Manila International Airport in gate 8 at
1:04 in the afternoon.[4]

Upon the airplane's arrival at gate 8, soldiers boarded the airplane to arrest Aquino. The soldiers escorted him off the airplane and onto the jet bridge;
however, instead of following the jet bridge to the terminal, they exited the jet bridge down the service staircase onto the apron, where a military vehicle
was waiting to bring him to prison.[4] Sometime between his egress from the aircraft and his boarding of the ground vehicle, several gunshots were
heard. When the firing stopped, Aquino and a man later identified as Rolando Galman lay dead on the apron, both from gunshot wounds. Aquino's body
was carried into an Aviation Security Command (AVSECOM) van by two AVSECOM SWAT soldiers, while another soldier at the bumper of the van
continued to fire shots at Galman. The AVSECOM van sped away, leaving behind the bullet-riddled body of Galman. The subsequent Sandiganbayan
ruling later established that Aquino had died before arriving at Fort Bonifacio General Hospital.[5] However, this remains controversial due to contrary
evidence presented in court interviews of General Custodio.

In 2010, the AVSECOM van (dubbed "Ninoy Aquino's death van" by some) was found in Villamor Air Base in Pasay.[6]

Pablo Martinez, one of the convicted conspirators in the assassination, alleged that his co-conspirators told him that Danding Cojuangco ordered the
assassination. Martinez also alleges that only he and Galman knew of the assassination, and that Galman was the actual shooter, a point not
corroborated by other evidence in the case.[7]

Investigation Edit

Everyone from the Central Intelligence Agency, to the United Nations, to the Communist Party of the Philippines, to First Lady Imelda Marcos was
accused of conspiracy.[10] President Marcos was reportedly gravely ill, recovering from a kidney transplant when the incident occurred. Theories arose
as to who was in charge and who ordered the execution. Some hypothesized that Marcos had a long-standing order for Aquino's murder upon the latter's
return.

Rolando Galman

Mere hours after the shooting, the government declared that Rolando Galman, a Communist hitman acting on orders from Philippine Communist Party
chairman Rodolfo Salas, was the man who killed Aquino.[11] A government re-enactment that aired on television days after the shooting alleged that
Galman hid under the service staircase while Aquino and the boarding party descended it, and as Aquino neared the van, Galman emerged from under
the staircase and shot Aquino in the back of the head. Several members of the security detail in turn fired several shots at Galman, killing him.

There were numerous irregularities in this version of events, including the amount of time between Aquino leaving the plane to the sound of gunfire
(8sec.), whereas this version would take at least 13 seconds, when re-enacted, as well as how an alleged lone gunman could have penetrated the security
detail of over 1,000 people at the airport without assistance. Politicians and diplomats found evident contradictions between the claim and the photos
and the videotape footage that documented the time before and after the shooting.[12] Years later, the official investigation into the assassination
concluded that Galman was a fall guy in a larger plot to kill Aquino; despite this conclusion, many prominent individuals continue to support the position
that Galman was the perpetrator.

Agrava Board Edit

Marcos immediately created a fact-finding commission and called the Fernando Commission to investigate the Aquino assassination. It was headed by
Supreme Court Chief Justice Enrique Fernando. Four retired Supreme Court Justices were appointed; they resigned after its composition was challenged
in court. Arturo M. Tolentino declined appointment as board chairman. However, the commission held only two sittings due to intense public criticism.[4]

On October 14, 1983, President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1886,[13] creating an independent board of inquiry, called the "Agrava
Commission" or "Agrava Board". The board was composed of former Court of Appeals Justice Corazon J. Agrava[4] as chairwoman, with lawyer Luciano E.
Salazar, businessman Dante G. Santos, labor leader Ernesto F. Herrera, and educator Amado C. Dizon.

The Agrava Fact-Finding Board convened on November 3, 1983. Before it could start its work President Marcos accused the Communists of the killing of
Senator Aquino: The decision to eliminate the former Senator, Marcos claimed, was made by none other than the general-secretary of the Philippine
Communist Party, Rodolfo Salas. He was referring to his earlier claim that Aquino had befriended and subsequently betrayed his Communist comrades.

The Agrava Board conducted public hearings and requested testimony from several persons who might shed light on the crimes, including Imelda
Marcos, and General Fabian Ver, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

In the subsequent proceedings, no one actually identified who fired the gun that killed Aquino, but Rebecca Quijano, another passenger, testified that
she saw a man behind Aquino (running from the stairs towards Aquino and his escorts) point a gun at the back of his head, then there was the sound of a
gunshot. A post-mortem analysis disclosed that Aquino was shot in the back of the head at close range with the bullet exiting at the chin at a downward
angle, which supported Quijano's testimony. More suspicions were aroused when Quijano described the assassin as wearing a military uniform.

After a year of thorough investigation – with 20,000 pages of testimony given by 193 witnesses, the Agrava Board submitted two reports to President
Marcos – the Majority and Minority Reports. The Minority Report, submitted by Chairman Agrava alone, was submitted on October 23, 1984. It
confirmed that the Aquino assassination was a military conspiracy, but it cleared General Ver. Many believed that President Marcos intimidated and
pressured the members of the Board to persuade them not to indict Ver, Marcos's first cousin and most trusted general. Excluding Chairman Agrava, the
majority of the board submitted a separate report – the Majority Report – indicting several members of the Armed Forces including Ver, General Luther
Custodio, and General Prospero Olivas, head of AVSECOM.

Trials and convictions

In 1985, 25 military personnel, including several generals and colonels, and one civilian were charged for the murders of Benigno Aquino Jr. and Rolando
Galman. President Marcos relieved Ver as AFP Chief and appointed his second cousin, General Fidel V. Ramos as acting AFP Chief. The accused were tried
by the Sandiganbayan (special court). After a brief trial, the Sandiganbayan acquitted all the accused on December 2, 1985.[14] Immediately after the
decision, Marcos re-instated Ver. The Sandiganbayan ruling and the reinstatement of Ver were denounced as a mockery of justice.

After Marcos was ousted in 1986, another investigation was set up by the new government.[15] Sixteen defendants were found guilty and sentenced to
life imprisonment. The sixteen were: Brig. Gen. Luther Custodio; Capt. Romeo Bautista; 2nd Lt. Jesús Castro; Sergeants Claro L. Lat, Arnulfo de Mesa,
Filomeno Miranda, Rolando de Guzman, Ernesto Mateo, Rodolfo Desolong, Ruben Aquino, and Arnulfo Artates; Constable Rogelio Moreno (the gunman);
M/Sgt. Pablo Martínez; C1C Mario Lazaga; A1C Cordova Estelo; and A1C Felizardo Taran.

The convicts filed an appeal to have their sentences reduced after 22 years, claiming the assassination was ordered by a Marcos crony and business
partner (and Corazon Aquino's estranged cousin), Eduardo Cojuangco Jr.. The Supreme court ruled that it did not qualify as newly found evidence.[16]
Through the years, some have been pardoned, others have died in detention, while others have had their terms commuted and then served out. In
November 2007, Pablo Martinez was released from National Bilibid Prison after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered his release on humanitarian
reasons.
PROOFS: