Analysis of the Aquino-Galman Murder Case using Modern Forensic Techniques

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Andie Zhackarie A. Rimpillo
Edmar Agamata
R
R Ralph Lawrence Saltivan

Eleanor Galvez
Research presented to the faculty of San Fernando South
Central Integrated School
In Partial fulfillment of the requirement for English Performance Task
Research Paper Junior High School Department
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 1
Statement of the problem 3
Objectives of the Study 3
Significance of the Study 4
Scope and Limitation of the Study 4
II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 5
III METHODOLOGY 7
Research Design 7
Research Participants 8
Data Collection Procedure 8
Data Analysis Procedure 9
Conclusion
Conclusion 9
 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The Life of Benigno Aquino Jr. is one that today is remembered for his contributions in

modern Philippine Politics. At age 17, ‘’Ninoy’’ as he would be known was the youngest war

correspondent to cover the Korean War for The Manila Times. Because of his journalistic feats,

he received the Philippine Legion of Honor award from President Quirino when aged 18. In early

1954, he was appointed by President Ramon Magsaysay, his wedding sponsor to his 1953

wedding at the Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Pasay with Corazon Cojuangco, to act as personal

emissary to Luis Taruc, leader of the Hukbalahap (Soliven, 2008).

After four months of negotiations, he was credited for Taruc's unconditional surrender and was

given a second Philippine Legion of Honor award with the degree of Commander on October 14,

1954. He studied at the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he became a member of

Upsilon Sigma Phi, the same fraternity as Marcos.

Early in his Senate career, Aquino vigorously attempted to investigate the Jabidah massacre

(Vitug & Gloria, 2000). He would late reference this event in his famous privilege speech

delivered at the Legislative Building in Manila, on March 28, 1968. When President Marcos,

implemented Proclamation No. 1081 in September 23, 1972, Aquino was arrested along with

other members of the opposition which included Senate President Jovito Salonga and Senator

Jose W. Diokno.

He was incarcerated for seven years, he has been described as Marcos' "most famous political

prisoner" by both local and international media. He founded his own party, Lakas ng Bayan and

ran in the 1978 Philippine parliamentary election, but all the party's candidates lost in the

election. After seven years of incarceration ,in 1980, he was permitted by Marcos to travel to the

US for medical treatment following a heart attack. During the early 1980s he became one of the
most notable critics of the Marcos regime, he attended numerous rallies, arguably the most

famous is one the he attended at Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles, California.

As the situation in the Philippines worsened, Aquino decided to return and restore democracy in

the country, despite numerous threats against his life. One of the opposition members, Rene

Saguisag (2013) said

f All of us were welcoming Ninoy’s return except for Dr. Guy Fawker of Rand, he said ‘’He

will be shot when he sets foot here’’. And the only other one who didn’t agree to Ninoy’s return

was his mother, she said ‘’It’s mothers intuition’’.

An ominous prediction of what would become one of the greatest mysteries in Philippine History.

August 21, 1983, inside a China Airlines Flight at what was then the Manila International

Airport, amidst 2,000 military and police personnel on the tarmac. A man in white stepped out of

the plane with an escort of several foreign journalists for "protection" in case "something"

happened, plus a substantial security escort following mere inches behind. In a matter of minutes,

a gunshot was heard and the man dropped to the ground face down. But the question is what

happened in the approximately 11 seconds that wasn’t photographed or filmed?

We are hoping to bring about renewed interest in this part of

history. As being a student myself, I always noticed that this part of our history has always been

overlooked, hopefully this research paper will clear out certain details of this event. This paper is

targeted to students in the 6th grade or even higher. We decided to pick this event because

Philippine democracy was literally changed because of this crime, and I feel the future

politicians, doctors, pilot’s and nurses take freedom for granted.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvStatement of the Problem

The study will aim to re-analyze the evidence collected during the 1984 investigation in a modern

forensic way. Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions:

1. What are the political consequences of this crime ?

2. Was Aquino still alive in the van?

3. What was Galman doing in the tarmac?

4. Is there significant association or planning that existed between the soldiers and Malacañang?

5. Is there a significant reason why the soldiers took 1 hour to get to the Fort Bonifacio Hospital?

Objectives of the Study

General Objective

1. To determine the level of conspiracy present during the investigation and even today towards

the Aquino Assasination. Aglalana Elementary School.

Specific Objectives

1. To describe the political situation during the early 1980s.

2. To find out what caliber of firearm was used.

3. To find out if it is possible that the military confiscated film negatives of the actual shooting

and they later destroyed those negatives.

4. To determine which of the two alleged firearms was recovered from the tarmac.
 Significance of the Study

The study will be beneficial to the following:

Sandiganbayan. The Sandiganbayan will make this as a basis upon a retrial of the Aquino-

Galman Case in the future. Points made in this study are based on evidence analyzed in a modern

way.

Elementary School Teachers and School Personnel. The result will enable teachers and school

personnel to correctly teach the students the real history instead of the alternate history as

explained by former pres. Marcos.

General Public. The result of the study will educate the public about the real and true history that

surrounds this crime.

Students. This will lift students’ awareness towards the blatant misinformation in their textbooks.

Future Researcher. This will add to the future researcher’s references or related studies.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study will be limited only to the level of awareness towards the misinformation in the

textbooks of grade six pupils at of San Fernando South Central Integrated School of the SY:

2023-2024. The misinformation only covers the fourth grading period of the SY: 2023- 2024.

This study will also focus only to the political side of things and the details of the events at the

airport.

Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

This section of the paper reviews the literature which has been used by other people in connecting
 ggggggggggggggggggggggggggg Chapter 2

gggggggggggggggggg v gLITERATURE REVIEW

fff

ff This section of the paper reviews the literature which has been used by other people in

connecting the ‘’dots’’, as well as the impact on the political situation on the ‘’Political volcano’’

that was the Philippines. One investigation included in the study is the one done by the Agrava

Board, research work of others and materials give basis in the formation of a great argument in

terms of answering a specific research question. When the news broke that Sen. Aquino was

dead, the opposition were shocked, the people were shocked even the international community

were shocked. At the time people wanted the truth, but the military hid the truth. People were

clueless. As reported by the Fact Finding Board (1986, p. 1)

Aquino was shot to death at the Manila International Airport and his unknown assassin

immediately killed by soldiers as Aquino returned Sunday from three years exile in the United

States, Witnesses said . Family members said they had been told by authorities at an army

hospital Aquino said.

ghghgWhile there a nice, solid explanation from the Fact Finding Board. There people who think

otherwise, the book ‘’ Death on the Tarmac: Forensic Analysis of the Assassination of Senator

Benigno Aquino, Jr ’’ claims that the Fact Finding Boards conclusion was far from the truth.

According to the authors, there’s no way Aquino was shot on the tarmac. That the Aquino family

used the event as a way to turn the people against former pres. Marcos. So as we can tell this

book is a way to validate MSG. Martinez claim, a way to ‘’attack’’ the Aquino Families silence

on the matter. There are certain details that are demonstrated that are certainly plausible in real-

life. But the things making them standout, ironically also discredit most of their argument. For
example, (Bailen & Erfe) claim that the shot was fired at a flat angle, but the autopsy said the

bullet entered ‘’forward, downward and medially’’ basically the shot was fired at an angle. There

are some points not mentioned in both, One of them, is the Missing blood trail and to make this

short , basically if Aquino was shot in the service stairs why isn’t there a trail of blood from the

stairs to the spot where he was dropped ? Hopefully this paper will fill up that gap and probably a

couple more.
 Chapter 3

RESEARCH D RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODS

ddddThis chapter gives an outline of research methods that were used in the study.

It provides information on the participants, that is, the criteria for inclusion in the study,

what the participants are and how they will be tested. The researcher describes the research

design that was chosen for the purpose of this study and the reasons for this choice. The

instrument that will be used for data collection is also described and the procedures that will be

followed in carrying out this study are included. The researcher also discusses the methods that

will be used to analyze the data that will be gathered.

Research Design

The researchers will use crime scene reconstruction as the study is attempting to know the

different possible outcomes that could’ve happened in the approximately 26 seconds from the

time Aquino was shot to the time the van sped away. Specifically, a semi-structured investigation

will be conducted so that the researchers can determine additional questions about the crime

scene if clarifications and further explanations will be needed. The clues that could’ve been

missed during the original investigation are expected to form the core data of the study, hence it

needed a method that would dealt with the topic in a narrative and descriptive nature. According

to the DESPP, Forensic crime scene reconstruction is the process of determining the sequence of

events about what occurred during and after a crime. Crime scenes may be reconstructed through

the study and interpretation of scene patterns and the examination of physical evidence.

One of the researchers will examine the photographs one by one (in this case all 150 of them),

then he would pass any clues or leads to another researcher who will then review and examine
that particular piece of evidence. FACrimeLab (2021) by reconstructing a crime scene, it can

assist to determine what could and could not have happened in the commission of a crime. Crime

scene reconstruction considers any and all evidence recovered, the physical layout of the space

and ties in other forensic disciplines such as blood spatter interpretation, trajectory and shooting

reconstruction and accident reconstruction.

Research Participants

The participants of the study will consist of three (3) grade 10 students of San Fernando South

Central Integrated School. At present, the research is going exceptionally well, the scale model of

the crime scene has all the known details of the scene. The researchers believe that this particular

model would be enough to provide sufficient and essential information to answer the questions

raised in this study.

Data Collection Procedure

Our research involves a scale model of the scene, using photographs, footage and descriptions

of the scene as recorded by the authorities. we will recreate the scene to the best of our abilities.

After constructing the model we’ll use the scale measurement and match the measurements with

Aquino’s weight and build to determine how fast he moved and how fast they could’ve dragged

him approximately 3 ft. another is recreating Aquino’s blood splatter as this is also quite

important in determining what happened after he was shot. Since this study is also gonna involve

firearms, we will also try to obtain a semi-legitimate firearm to do the firearms trajectory

analysis, this will give us an opportunity to record valuable data to work with. Firearms trajectory

should be quickly determined to enhance the possibility of finding the suspect Mattjissen &

Kerhofff (2016)

Data Analysis Procedure

Data Analysis Procedure

Data Analysis Procedure

hhhOnce all the data has been transcribed to workable texts, in the case of my colleagues. The

raw data has to be translated to Filipino as part of the data refinement. The translation of the text

will greatly help with the analysis, once analyzed our group will start to describe and write

Chapter 1 & 2 with greater comprehension of the data and hopefully a great outcome.

Conclusion

This chapter has discussed the research methodology. The chapter has highlighted the

research- design, data collection procedures, data collection methods and data analysis.

This will mark the end of Chapter 3, the most intuitive and might I say most enjoyable part of this

paper. Anyway, the methods that will be used are complex and odd but will provide the correct

and necessary information or data suited to our study.

References

Soliven, M. (2008, August 26). Ninoy: In the Eye of Memory. Philippine Headline News Online.

https://web.archive.org/web/20110323022102/http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/sb/

sb005847.htm

Saguisag, R. (2021, June 19). Agosto Beinte Uno: Ang Pagpatay kay Ninoy Aquino. YouTube.

https://youtu.be/zsoxHk5-ex8?si=9tRmHckfXor_-H_s

Bailen J & Erfe, E. (2009). Death on the Tarmac: Forensic Analysis of the Assassination of

Senator Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Manila Times Publishing.

https://books.google.com.ph/books/about/Death_on_the_Tarmac.html?

id=KL47cgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y

Connecticut's Official State Website. (n.d.). Crime Scene Reconstruction .Retrieved April 15,

2024, from https://portal.ct.gov/despp/division-of-scientific-services/_content/crime-scene-

reconstruction

Forensic Analytical Crime. (2021). Crime Scene Reconstruction. Retrieved April 15, 2024, from

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Mattijssen E & Kerkhoff, W. (2016). Bullet Trajectory Reconstruction–Methods, Accuracy and

Precision. Research Gate.
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Methods_Accuracy_and_Precision

Mattijssen E & Kerkhoff, W. (2016). Bullet Trajectory Reconstruction–Methods, Accuracy and

Precision. Research Gate.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299421080_Bullet_Trajectory_Reconstruction-
Methods_Accuracy_and_Precision

Agrava Fact-Finding Board (1984). Reports of the Fact-Finding Board on the Assassination of
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Vitug & Gloria (2000). Under the Crescent Moon: Rebellion in Mindanao.
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id=4d1wAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y