ASSASSINATION

OF
NINOY AQUINO
(AUGUST 21, 1983)

DILAO, ROJIM A.
BSCE-2C
15-00034
INTRODUCTION:
Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., a former Philippine
senator, was assassinated on Sunday, August 21, 1983, on
the tarmacof Manila International Airport (now named Ninoy
Aquino International Airport in his honor). A longtime political
opponent of President Ferdinand Marcos, Aquino 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 falsely accused of Aquino's
murder.
Aquino was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1967
and was critical of Marcos. He was imprisoned on trumped
up charges shortly after Marcos's 1972 declaration of martial
law. In 1980, he had a heart attack in prison and was
allowed to leave the country two months later by Marcos'
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 1986 snap election. Although 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 Mrs. Aquino.
Although 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 of whom were acquitted by the Sandiganbayan(special court). After
Marcos was ousted, another government investigation under President Corazon Aquino's
administration led to a retrial of 16 military personnel, all of whom were convicted and
sentenced to life imprisonmentby the Sandiganbayan. The Supreme Court affirmed the
decision and rejected later motions by the convicted soldiers for a retrial. [1] One of the convicts
was subsequently pardoned, three have died in prison, and the remainder had their
sentences commuted at various times; the last convicts were released from prison in 2009.
BODY:

ACCORDING TO WIKIPIDEA:
Benigno Aquino Jr. was elected to the Philippine Senate in 1967. During his first years
as a senator, Aquino began speaking out against 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 trial, 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, with the abbreviation meaning "fight"
in Tagalog), to run for office in the Interim Batasang Pambansa (Parliament). All LABAN
candidates lost, primarily to candidates of Marcos' party, amid allegations of election fraud.
In March 1980, Aquino had a heart attack in prison. He was transported to
the Philippine Heart Center, where he had 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 that 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 a 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 self-exile in the U.S., wherein he worked on
manuscripts for two books and delivered several lectures and speeches critical of the Marcos
government across the nation. By 1983, news of the political situation in the Philippines led
Aquino to return to the country, fully aware of the danger that awaited him.
Former Lanao del Sur congressman Rashid Lucman helped Aquino
circumvent Malacañang Palace's order not to issue passports to the Aquino family, providing
him with a passport under the alias "Marcial Bonifacio" – a reference to martial law as well as
Aquino's detention at Fort Bonifacio. [4]
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.
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 three or four minutes it
could be all over, and I may not be able to talk to you again after this." [5] 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.[6]On the morning of August 21, 1983,

accompanied by his brother-in-law, ABC News correspondent Ken Kashiwahara,[7] along with

other members of the press, Aquino boarded China Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 767-200
registered as B-1836, that departed Chiang Kai-shek 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 Manila International Airport at gate
number 8 (now 11) at 1:04 in the afternoon. [8]
Upon the airplane's arrival at the gate, soldiers boarded the airplane to fetch 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. [8] As Aquino disembarked the plane, one
of the personnel was heard saying "Pusila! Pusila! Op! Pusila! Pusila! Pusila!" ("Pusila" is
the Visayan word for "shoot") before the gunshots were heard. It was recorded on the news
camera, but the actual shooting of Aquino was not caught on camera due to the  exposure to
bright sunlight.[9][10]
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.
[11]
 However, this remains controversial due to contradicting evidence presented in court
interviews of General Custodio.
A reenactment by the military showed that Rolando Galman approached Aquino and shot him
moments before he could board the van. [9] An official report of the Marcos government and
Pablo Martinez stated that Galman shot Aquino dead. However, there is no solid evidence to
substantiate this claim.[9] Several foreign media personnel were with Aquino on the plane. [9]

MURDER WEAPON
According to contemporary news reports, the alleged murder weapon was an American-
made handgun, specifically a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver, which Interpol traced to
a gun store in Bangkok. It was also reported that the manufacturer had shipped the pistol to
the Thai National Trading Co. in Bangkok on September 25, 1970.

FUNERAL
Hours after the assassination, Aquino's remains were autopsied at Loyola Memorial
Chapels in Makati.[12][13] Even though Aquino was embalmed by renowned embalmer Frank
Malabed, Aquino's mother, Doña Aurora, told the funeral home not to apply makeup on the
body, so that the public may see "what they did to my son." [14] His remains lay in state for eight
days. However, Aquino's family decided to display Aquino with the blood-stained safari jacket
he wore upon his assassination, and refused any makeup to disguise the visible wounds in his
face. Thousands of supporters flocked to Aquino's wake, which took place at his house on
Times Street in West Triangle, Quezon City. Aquino's wife, Corazon, and children Ballsy,
Pinky, Viel, Noynoy, and Krisarrived from Boston the day after the assassination. In a later
interview, Aquino's eldest daughter, Ballsy (now Aquino-Cruz), recounted that they learnt of
 the assassination through a phone call
from Kyodo News.[15] She was initially shocked upon being asked to confirm if her father

had indeed been killed. The report of the assassination was verified to Aquino's family
when Shintaro Ishihara, an acquaintance of Ninoy and a member of the Japanese Parliament,
called Cory and informed her that Kiyoshi Wakamiya, a journalist who had been with Ninoy in
the flight from Taipei to Manila, confirmed the shooting to him. [16]
Aquino's remains were later transferred to Santo Domingo Church, where his funeral
was held on August 31. Following a Mass at 9 a.m., with the Cardinal Archbishop of
Manila, Jaime Sinofficiating, the funeral procession brought his remains to Manila Memorial
Park in Parañaque. The flatbed truck that served as his hearse wound through Metro Manila
for 12 hours. It passed by Rizal Park, where the Philippine flag had been brought to half-staff.
Aquino's casket finally reached the memorial park at around 9 p.m. More than two million
people lined the streets for the procession. Some stations like the church-sponsored Radio
Veritas and DZRH were the only stations to cover the entire ceremony. [17]
Jovito Salonga, then head of the Liberal Party, said about Aquino:
Ninoy was getting impatient in Boston, he felt isolated by the flow of events in the
Philippines. In early 1983, Marcos was seriously ailing, the Philippine economy was just as
rapidly declining, and insurgency was becoming a serious problem. Ninoy thought that by
coming home he might be able to persuade Marcos to restore democracy and somehow
revitalize the Liberal Party.[18]

INVESTIGATION
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.[19] President
Marcoswas 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 alleged that Rolando Galman was the
man who killed Aquino, falsely accusing Galman of being a communist hitman acting on orders
from Philippine Communist Party chair Rodolfo Salas.[20][21] A government reenactment that
aired on television days after the shooting alleged that Galman hid under the service staircase
while Aquino and his military escorts 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 (eight seconds), whereas this
scenario would have taken at least 13 seconds, when reenacted, as well as how an alleged
lone gunman could have penetrated a 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 videotape footage that documented the time before and after the shooting. [22] Years
 later, the official investigation into the
assassination concluded that Galman was a scapegoat in a larger plot to kill Aquino; despite
this conclusion, some individuals continue to support the position that Galman was the
perpetrator.

AGRAVA BOARD
Marcos immediately created a fact-finding commission called the Fernando
Commission to investigate Aquino's 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 his appointment as
board chair. However, the commission held only two sittings due to intense public criticism. [8]
On October 14, 1983, President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1886,
[23]
 creating an independent board of inquiry, called the "Agrava Commission" or "Agrava
Board". The board was composed of former Court of Appeals Justice Corazon Agrava[8] as
chair, with lawyer Luciano E. Salazar, entrepreneur Dante G. Santos, labor leader Ernesto F.
Herrera, and educator Amado C. Dizon as members.
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 testimonies 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,
after which there was a 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. Some airside employees of the airport
on duty during the assassination gave testimonies that support that of Quijano, stating that
Galman was having a conversation with one soldier when gunshots rang out.
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, head of the AVSECOM, and General Prospero Olivas, chief of the
Metropolitan Command (METROCOM).
 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 of the accused on December 2, 1985. [24] Immediately
after the

decision, Marcos reinstated Ver. The 1985 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.[25] The Supreme Court ruled that the previous court proceedings were "a sham"
and ordered a new Sandiganbayan trial. [26] Sixteen defendants were found guilty and
sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sandiganbayan in 1990 [27] and ordered to pay damages
to the families of Aquino and Galman. [28][29]
The sixteen were Brig. Gen. Luther Custodio, Capt. Romeo Bautista, 2nd Lt. Jesus
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),[30] M/Sgt. Pablo Martinez (also the alleged gunman), C1C Mario
Lazaga, A1C Cordova Estelo, and A1C Felizardo Taran. The Supreme Court affirmed the
decision in 1991.[27]
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
alleged 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. [31] The convicts filed an appeal
to have their sentences reduced after 22 years, claiming that the assassination was ordered by
Marcos's crony and business partner (and Corazon Aquino's estranged cousin) Danding
Cojuangco. The Supreme Court ruled that it did not qualify as newly found evidence. Even
though the supreme court didn't convict President Marcos, there are those that still believe that
Marcos did, indeed, kill Ninoy Aquino. [32] 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 the New Bilibid Prison after President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered his release on humanitarian grounds. [33] In March 2009, the
last remaining convicts were released from prison.

REVISITING THE AQUINO ASSASSINATION: 39 YEARS LATER BY

BENJAMIN PULTA
The public defender who worked for the
release of soldiers convicted more than 30 years
ago over the deaths of former senator Benigno
“Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and Rolando Galman said the
government should consider pushing for the
extradition of the so-called "missing link" in this
highly politicized case.

Lawyer Persida Rueda-Acosta of the

Public Attorney’s office had earlier interviewed
 former Air Force Master Sgt. Pablo Martinez
whose new testimony was not heard both in the Agrava Fact-Finding Board in 1983 and the
post-1986 Sandiganbayan trial.
In 1995, Martinez, who was then serving time at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), gave an
exclusive interview to Philippine Daily Inquirer, where he claimed to know Galman and was
part of the assassination plot against Aquino.
In the same interview, the former soldier alleged that Constabulary Gen. Romeo Gatan
and businessman Hermilo Gosuico, who both have close ties with business tycoon Eduardo
"Danding" Cojuangco, knew of the plot.

Martinez also implicated Philippine Air Force (PAF) Col. Romeo Ochoco, the
AVSECOM vice commander at the time, and a known protege of Armed Forces chief of

staff Fabian Ver, as one of the co-conspirators, and said that another PAF officer, Capt. Felipe
Valerio, was in direct contact with Ochoco.
Ochoco, at the time of the assassination, was also a deputy at the National Intelligence
and Security Agency (NISA), which was then headed concurrently by Gen. Ver, who was also
chief of the Presidential Security Command.
He also claimed that Ochoco ordered him to sneak in Galman, a hired gun from Nueva
Ecija known to Gosuico, at the MIA tarmac.
Today marks the 39 anniversary of the death of Aquino on August 21,1983 at the
Manila International Airport which would later be named after him.

New forensic analysis sustains Martinez’s narrative: Galman shot Aquino

Lawyer and forensic and medical evidence analyst Dr. Erwin Efre, one of the original
members of the forensic team given unprecedented access to evidence at the scene of the
crime and other pieces of evidence, remains active in government service up to the present.
The team, consisting of Prof. Jerome B. Bailen, Benito Molino and Anastacio Rosete Jr.
published their work "Death on the Tarmac: Forensic Analysis of Assassination of Senator
Benigno Aquino, Jr." has since gone out of print.
The work dealt mostly with the physical evidence following the incident and cleared
Constable Rogelio Moreno, whom the 1990 Sandiganbayan decision pointed to as the
“gunman.”
For one, Moreno supposedly shot Aquino as they were going down the stairs, a fairly
difficult move considering that Moreno's teammates were also in the line of fire and
dangerously close and moving shoulder to shoulder with Aquino as they were moving down
the stairs.
In a more controversial experiment, Erfe's team also tested the maximum distance from
a gunshot from a caliber .357 revolver which would leave "soot" or visible powder burn marks
on entry wound similar to those found at the back of the head of Aquino.
The experiment ascertained that Moreno, from the rear of the entourage, with the handgun at
least two feet away from the gunshot entry point would not leave such prominent and small
tight powder burns.
A gun such as the caliber .357, according to the experiment would need to be no more
than six to 10 inches away to leave entry wounds.
The experiment, like everything in the Aquino saga, turned political after supporters of
the late senator denounced the use of a dead pig's carcass to substitute for human flesh.
"They were saying we should not have used a pig in the experiment," Erfe said.
Erfe noted that there had been no blood stains on the stairs, where Moreno supposedly shot
Aquino, but there were blood feet away near the AVSECOM van where Aquino collapsed after
 being shot, and his escorts scampered for a
few crucial seconds reacting to the shot before quickly returning fire at Galman.
More telling was the popular video of Moreno and his fellow soldiers approaching
Aquino as the latter was seated in the plane and then escorting him out. The video taken by
one of the journalists on board the flight briefly captured the uniformed men, including Moreno,
with an empty pistol holster.
In 2007, Inquirer reporter Norman Bordadora wrote about Sgt. Ruben Catimbuhan who
drove the van used by the AVSECOM.
Catimbuhan said he saw Galman shoot Aquino. Catimbuhan also said as the dying
Aquino was loaded into the van he was instructed by Valerio to go to the Military Security Unit
of the Philippine Army instead of the closer Villamor Air Base Hospital.

Sandiganbayan finds 16 soldiers guilty

Sixteen defendants were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by the
Sandiganbayan in 1990 and ordered to pay damages to the families of Aquino and Galman.
The sixteen were Custodio, Capt. Romeo Bautista, 2nd Lt. Jesus 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 Martinez (also the alleged gunman), Airman First Class (A1C) Mario
Lazaga, A1C Cordova Estelo, and A1C Felizardo Taran.
The Supreme Court affirmed the decision in 1991.
It is interesting to note that the two military officials disappeared from the scene shortly
after the 1986 EDSA revolt.
Ochoco was believed to have fled to Australia where he owns a farm while Valerio was
later traced to the United States.
There were attempts to have Valerio extradited in 2009 but attempts to locate the
official did not produce any results.
Through the years, some of the convicts have been pardoned, others have died in
detention, while others had their terms commuted and immediately released to once again
enjoy life outside prison.
In November 2007, Martinez was released from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) after then
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered his release on humanitarian grounds. He was 70
years old at the time.
In that same year, Martinez gave another exclusive interview this time to a television
network, where he claimed that it was indeed Galman who shot Aquino with a revolver at close
range at the MIA during that fateful day.
He added that he is very sure of this as he was the one who sneaked in Galman and
that he was very near the gunman at the time. He added that his fellow soldiers, who were
tasked to secure Aquino, were not aware of the plot.
Martinez also reiterated the names of Gatan and Ochoco as among the plotters and by
their close association, Cojuangco and Ver as the possible masterminds behind Aquino's
assassination.
Since the Aquino murder plot was compartmentalized, Martinez could not say the real
motive behind the assassination. What he knew was that should Galman fails to shoot the
former senator, Martinez will be the one to do the job.
In March 2009, the last remaining convicts were released from prison.
Following this development, the case of Aquino’s assassination was revisited in an
episode of GMA Network’s docudrama series “Case Unclosed” aired on March 26, 2009,
where Martinez also shared his side of the story.
This was the last time Martinez will communicate with the media as he died on May 9,
2014, after being hit by a Mitsubishi Montero while biking along Roxas Boulevard, Manila.
 Martinez succumbed to fractures in the ribs at
the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pasay City the following day. He was 77 years at the time.

Capt. Valerio as missing link

A standing warrant of arrest in connection with the death of Aquino still remains in effect
against a former senior officer of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) who has since made a new life
for himself in the United States.
"If only to get a chance to get to the bottom of the story, we should pursue to have him
extradited back to the Philippines," Chief Public Attorney Persida Rueda-Acosta told the PNA.

Then Capt. Felipe R. Valerio Jr., a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of
1973, was among those named in an arrest warrant issued by the Sandiganbayan Third
Division signed by then Sandiganbayan chairperson Godofredo L. Legaspi on Nov. 11, 2005.
His last known address was Seattle, Washington. In 2006, Acosta formally asked
United States Ambassador to Manila Kirstie Kenney for assistance in going after Valerio after
reliable information said the latter works as a commercial pilot in Texas and California and
used aliases "Philip Valed" and "Edwin Salvador".
"We never received a favorable reply," Acosta said.
Valerio, who turned 71 last February could be the last chance for the truth to be known about
the Ninoy Aquino assassination.

RAPPLER REVISITS THE EVENTS SURROUNDING THE ASSASSINATION

OF BENIGNO 'NINOY' AQUINO JR

Considered one of the staunchest opponents of then president Ferdinand Marcos,

Aquino was regarded as a contributing factor in the transformation of the small opposition
during Martial Law. His assassination galvanized the opposition even more and drew
widespread support for their cause, culminating in a People Power revolt in 1986.
On his death anniversary, Rappler revisits the events surrounding the assassination of
Aquino.

From Boston to Manila

Aquino was one of the first in dividuals

arrested following Marcos’ Martial Law proclamation.
The former senator was placed under military trial
after he was accused of murder, illegal possession of
firearms, and subversion.
To protest the “trumped up charges” against
him, Aquino went on a hunger strike for 40 days from
April 4 to May 13, 1975. Two years later, in 1977, the military tribunal sentenced him to die.
The execution, however, was never carried out.
In 1980, after 7 years in prison, Marcos allowed Aquino to have bypass surgery in the
United States after a heart attack. After his operation in Texas, the Aquino family settled in
Boston, Massachusetts. However, the family patriarch continued being critical of the Marcos
administration. 
In 1983, after 3 years of self-exile, Aquino decided to go back to the Philippines despite
opposition from various people who feared for his life.
 During an interview before he flew back to the
country using a passport with the name “Marcial Bonifacio”, Aquino was quoted as saying, “I
cannot allow myself to be petrified by the fear of assassination and spend my life in a corner.”
Trying to be as discreet as possible, Aquino’s journey back to Manila had many detours.
According to a New York Times piece which detailed the circuitous tour, Aquino first set foot in
various countries like Singapore and Taiwan before boarding China Airlines Flight 811 which
took him to Manila.

A BULLET TO THE HEAD

Past 1:00 pm on August 21, 1983, the airplane

carrying Aquino arrived at the Manila International
Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport) as
hundreds of supporters waited. He was escorted by
soldiers from his seat to a waiting military vehicle that
was supposed to take him to Fort Bonifacio.
A few seconds after he exited the airplane,
gunshots were heard. As the firing cleared, a bloodied
Aquino was seen lying on the ground together with
another body later identified as Rolando Galman.
According to several reports, Galman was gunned down by Aviation Security Command
(Avsecom) personnel. 
An autopsy report said the death of Aquino was a result of “brain laceration and
intracranial hemorrhage, secondary to gunshot wound at the head.” The fatal bullet, it added,
was fired close range.

A VERY LONG FUNERAL PROCESSION

The death of Aquino sparked outraged from
supporters and critics of the Marcos administration
alike.  
Aquino’s body, dressed in the same bloodied clothes
he wore on the fateful day, were visited by thousands of
supporters and sympathizers. 
His funeral procession on August 31, 1983
lasted for more than 10 hours. From a funeral mass at
the Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City, Aquino’s
coffin was transported to his final resting place at
the Manila Memorial Parkon top of a flat-bed truck
adorned with yellow flowers.
According to news reports, despite the heat and later, thunderstorms. thick crowds
of more than a million people flocked the streets during the procession to pay their last
respects. 

TWO COMMISSIONS WERE CREATED BY MARCOS TO INVESTIGATE AQUINO’S

DEATH
 Three days after Aquino’s death, on
August 24, 1983, Marcos created a commission by virtue of Administrative Order No. 469 to
allow a “a free, unlimited, and exhaustive investigation” of the incident. 
Marcos appointed then chief justice Enrique Fernando as chairman and retired justices
Ruperto Martin, Guillermo Santos, and Felix Antonio as members. Former chief justice
Roberto Concepcion was also appointed but later declined. 
The Fernando commission, however, was dissolved due to the public criticism.
Marcos replaced the short-lived commission with an independent fact-finding body
through Presidential Decree No. 1886. The commission consisted of former Court of Appeals
justice Corazon Agrava, Ernesto Herrera, Amado Dizon, Luciano Salazar, and Dante Santos.
After almost a year of investigations and public hearings, the Agrava board submitted two
reports to Marcos: a minority report penned by Agrava alone and the majority submitted by the
other members.

In her minority report, Agrava concluded that the assassination of Aquino was a military
conspiracy. She, however, cleared Fabian Ver. Meanwhile, the majority report indicted Ver,
General Luther Custodio, Avsecom head General Prospero Olivas, among other members of
the Armed Forces. 
More than 20 military personnel were charged in 1985 for the murder of Aquino and
Galman. However, a Sandiganbayan ruling acquitted all accused a few months later. 
Conviction, release  
After the 1986 People Power Revolution which toppled the 21-year Marcos regime and
subsequently installed Aquino’s widow Corazon as president, a new investigation was
opened. 
In 1990, the Sandiganbayan convicted 16 military personnel, including Custodio, of murder,
and were sentenced to life imprisonment. According to the ruling, based on narrations of two
witnesses, it was Rogelio Moreno who “fired the fatal shot” that killed Aquino, not Galman.
In 2005, the Supreme Court denied a petition filed by the convicts to re-open the trial “with
finality for lack of merit.”
In the following years, however, the convicts either died or were released from prison. 
In 2007, Pablo Martinez was pardoned by then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on
humanitarian grounds. In 2010, 10 more convicts were released.
Martinez, who upon his release reiterated that Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco was the
mastermind behind the Aquino assassination, was killed in a hit-and-run incident along
Quezon Boulevard in 2014. 

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS:
All of the three reference I’ve researched tells that Rolando Galman was the man who
killed Ninoy Aquino but in the second reference which is the revisit of Benjamin Pulta he stated
that Rogelio Moreno was the gunman but it was withdrawn because of the narrative of
Martinez stating that galman was the shooter.

CONCLUSSION:
I therefore conclude that 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.