After 25 years, the question still remains unanswered: Who ordered the assassination of former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino on August 21, 1983?
I previously wrote that Ferdinand Marcos was the mastermind because the military precision of the assassination could not have occurred without the knowledge and involvement of Gen. Fabian Ver, who would not have done anything without the Dictator’s knowledge and approval.
But could someone else have been the actual mastermind? Let’s review the facts.
Ninoy Aquino’s plane had just landed in Manila on August 21, 1983, on a flight from Taipei when Philippine soldiers entered the plane, approached Ninoy and placed him under their custody and control.
The soldiers hustled him through the crowded aisle and out the airport door, which they immediately shut to prevent anyone from following them, to a staircase.
A few seconds later, shots were fired and Ninoy’s lifeless body lay on the concrete tarmac of the Manila International Airport.
About 16 soldiers (no officers!) were charged with conspiring to kill Ninoy. “The forensic evidence submitted to the trial court,” columnist Antonio Abaya wrote, “established that the trajectory of the fatal bullet was ‘forward, downward and medially,’ the bullet entering Aquino’s skull near his left ear and exiting at his chin. This was consistent with the gun being fired at Aquino by someone behind him who was at a higher plane than he was, such as someone who was one or two steps behind him on a downward flight of stairs.”
Rolando Galman, the hapless patsy brought by his military handlers through tight security at the airport, was positioned at the foot of the staircase. After Aquino was shot once from behind, the soldiers pointed their assault rifles at Galman and shot him several times to make sure he was dead.
After a military van appeared on the tarmac, soldiers quickly loaded the bodies of both Aquino and Galman into the van that drove them to a military camp. Several hours passed before the corpses were delivered to a coroner for examination.
Barely eight hours later, Marcos announced to the world that “communist hit man” Rolando Galman had killed Ninoy Aquino.
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But no one believed Marcos. A fact-finding commission Marcos formed in response to world outrage determined that 16 soldiers were responsible, and they were so charged before a trial court. After the 16 soldiers were convicted of conspiracy in the killing of Ninoy and sentenced to Muntinglupa penitentiary, one of them, M/Sgt Pablo Martinez, became a born-again Christian and decided to confess and reveal what the other soldiers would not.
In his affidavit, Martinez declared that he was assigned by Col. Romeo Ochoco, then-deputy commander of the Aviation Security Command (Avsecom); Brig. Gen. Romeo Gatan of the Philippine Constabulary; and Herminio Gosuico, a civilian businessman from Nueva Ecija, to escort Galman from a hotel near the airport to the tarmac for the Ninoy’s arrival from Taipei.
Witnesses at the Agrava Fact-Finding Commission had previously identified Gosuico, Air Force Col. Arturo Custodio and two others as the men who fetched Galman from his home in San Miguel, Bulacan, on August 17, 1983.
Martinez had previously served under Col. Ochoa, who personally recruited him for the special assignment. Martinez wrote that he and Galman were briefed on the assassination plot at the Carlston Hotel near the domestic airport on the night of August 20, 1983. Briefing them on the details of the plot were Gen. Gatan, Col. Ochoco and Gosuico. That evening, Col. Ochoco gave Galman a .357 Magnum revolver, while Martinez was given a Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolver.
On the morning of August 21, 1983, just before Martinez brought Galman to the airport, Galman’s mistress, Anna Oliva, and her sister Catherine, were brought to the Carlston Hotel to have breakfast with Galman. The two women were last seen at their workplace on September 4, 1983, when armed men picked them up. Their corpses were later exhumed from a sugarcane field in Capas, Tarlac, in 1988 in a hacienda reportedly owned by Danding Cojuangco.
Galman’s wife, Lina Lazaro, was picked up at her home by two men on January 29, 1984, and was never seen again. During the Agrava Fact-Finding inquiry, Gosuico was identified by Galman’s son and step-daughter as one of the two men who picked up their mother. Gosuico was a known business associate of Danding Cojuangco.
Despite all the testimonies implicating them, neither Col. Ochoco, nor Gen. Gatan nor Gosuico were ever charged with involvement in the conspiracy to kill Ninoy.
Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s current Justice Secretary, Raul Gonzalez, was a Sandiganbayan prosecutor under President Cory Aquino when he came upon a witness with crucial evidence who was willing to testify under certain conditions. Gonzalez went to Cory in Malacanang to tell her that the witness wanted protection for herself and her three kids. Before Cory would agree to the terms, she asked who the witness would name as the mastermind.
When Gonzalez answered that she would name her first cousin, Pres. Cory reportedly responded, “Impossible! It cannot be!” She refused the demand of the witness who eventually disappeared.
Gen. Romeo Gatan died of a heart ailment at an unspecified date. Hermie Gosuico died under mysterious circumstances leading Abaya to ask: “Did he die of illness or accident, or was he eliminated because he knew too much?”
Of the original conspirators named by Martinez, only Col. Ochoco is still alive, reportedly living with family somewhere in Stockton, Calif.
A documentary on the assassination of Ninoy Aquino, prepared by the Foundation for Worldwide People Power, will be shown on Thursday, August 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Veterans War Memorial (400 Van Ness Avenue) in San Francisco sponsored by the Ninoy Aquino Movement (NAM).
You’re invited. Before the showing, you are also invited to a Candlelight Vigil and March at 6 p.m. at the steps of the San Francisco City Hall.
Send comments to Rodel50@aol.com or log on to rodel50.blogspot.com or write to Law Offices of Rodel Rodis at 2429 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94127, or call (415) 334-7800.
I think the family of the late Ninoy Benigno knows who really is the mastermind only that they keep it within themselves because of too much implications that it might cause for their family and the whole country. They much would rather stay silent and let the legacy of Ninoy be remembered as it is and let the mystery of his assassination be an excuse of injustice even in higher authority.
rumors existed before that it was danding who ordered the assassination but who else knows about the plot before and after
Who else in that time had the power? Who is the arch nemesis of Ninoy? FM
CIA did it. But that’s just me.
Folks:
One would almost HAVE to agree with the self-effacing “carlos” preceding.
And the poster who posits FM.
Marcos was the “client” of our then-neocons, and simple connecting “the dots” would square with the suspicions, just as it is crystal-clear today that the CIA was every bit the heavy it was portrayed as in Costa-Gavrases’ superb film, “Missing,” as it bloodily well was also in El Salvador more recently.
Ninoy Benigno was a world-class spokesman for his people, and, as with far too many of them, he was murdered, just like Gandhi, like MLK.
And, tonight, scarily and eerily, a report out of Denver “outs” a trio of idiot racists who may have been hankering for a reprise with Obama, who has yet to be elected. Well, so was Benigno? And MLK, of course, was simply too much of a lightning rod, as Cesar Chavez too could have been.
But, to return to the “present,” as in today, tonight, in Denver . . .
HILLARY Clinton had her finest moment on the podium of the Democratic Party convention, and well may Bill have shed a tear or two on her behalf.
Never mind, she will serve even better in the Senate to push through legislations that benefit the PEOPLE and not the few.
And how about that orating Montana guv, Schweitzer? One more candidate for higher office and greater responsibility.
Even the closing benediction was exemplary, and I’m not even an agnostic.
But, BOO, in spades and quarks and laughter, at CNN’s avowed “best” political reporting team.
These guys insisted on ignoring everyone who had something to say in favor of their own inane and irrelevant beach-ball colloquies, such as the schadenfreude mutterings about how can Hillary help unify the Party?
Well, guys, she DID.
Frank Eng
P.S.: awarthur, even you must be hoping EVERYone will be helping watch Barack’s back, albeit you may vote as your conscience dictates. Your “interests”? Hmmm.
Marcos and his family will not be idiots not to think that anything that happens to Ninoy will be blamed to them or would backfire on them. Question is why are Ninoy’s escorts up to now still so scared to speak out until their death. That only means that who ever is the mastermind is still in a high position or so influential that he can wipe out their families or they really have no idea who killed Ninoy and somebody else did it and is now dead. Another question also is what made Cory so silent and did not pusue the case untill her death. Could it be she already knows who did it and by revealing will cause big damage to her family and her movement because it was not Marcos nor Imelda but someone close to her or maybe related to her?
Cory knew who the mastermind was but reluctant to reveal it. Once the
secret is reveal, Cory’s saintly image will be tainted. I believe there is hypocrisy
hidden behind Ninoy’s case but the truth will come out even after Cory’s death.
Cory is no saint period.
People wake up, this is a clear sample of our culture, we Filipinos really love to hear myths and extra ordinary stories but may I just ask one question… considering the substance of the writings, can somebody explain why Marcos did not go after the real perpetrators? he was still in power for 3 yrs after ninoy was shot, to name the plotters would surely turn the events into his side… it may even save his whole family from disgrace…but he never did, and what is the point to cover up the mess and protect the soldiers involved if it was danding who ordered the shots.
The family aquino knows it was on their own blood DANDING who did it, they are not just strong enough to stand for the truth…..DANDING up to now is stiill on the top 10 richest man in the philippines.
he said the last words before he step downs on the tarmac.
“i know after i step down here somebody will wait for me to shoot me in my head eventhough i have a bullet proof to make sure that his mission is accompilshed and to make sure that i am a dead body”.
-Ninoy Aquino (1932-1983)
last words before the assassination
August 21, 1983
Common sense kung wla sila tinatago hindi nila patay galman, ano isip meron 16 sundalo who escorted ninoy pababa, sasabihin nila galman baril ninoy, oh come on, tapos tadtad nila bala galman para di na salita. It’s beyond clear indication money works in the Philippines kahit pitpitan ng itlog wala magsasabi ng totoo. Kaya ayaw nila dine America hindi puwede sinungaling dine, kulong nila, diyan Pilipinas, kapatid nila father of all lies Lucifer, tell me if i’m wrong lol and i’m gonna kill myself! Kahit ano kasinungalingan gawin nila, may isang supreme power nakatunghal, He is the final judge, sino namatay na bayani, si Ninoy, Ninoy did not die in vain, he died a Philippine National Hero, Cory died a heroine, she is the mother of Philippine democracy, o laban pa kayo, that is written in the World History! Diyos ang final judge lahat ng nabili ng pera, u think mapupunta sila sa Kaharian ng Diyos, i don’t think so!
One thing is more than sure, hindi pera o kahit anong yaman dito sa lupa sukatan ng Diyos Ama sa langit, kaya ang bugtong na anak ng Diyos sa sabsaban pinanganak, ibig sabihin ang Diyos ay para sa mahihirap, di ba? Ang pera o kahit ano kapangyarihan dito sa lupa pag ginamit mo sa masama, that means kay satanas ka, pag ginamit mo sa mabuti ibig sabihin s Panginoon Diyos ka, example Ampatuan massacre u think diosmay gawa niyan, di ba gawa ni satanas yan, no doubt!
Bayad na ang buhay ni Ninoy, naging presidente si cory, at si cory hindi niya ginamit power niya para gumanti, hayan resulta anak niya presidentiable, isn.t that great mga kababayan sa pilipinas, ano ginagawa ng present government, repeatition ng twenty year marcos dark regime, ngek!
The bucket of mystery stopped at Danding. But who owns the bucket? Danding was said to have had a multi-million dollar reason to eliminate Ninoy but the Vatican had a multi-trillion dollar to cut down the power of Marcos who wrested from the Vatican the control of Philippine gold. And what would be the best solution but the martyrdom of Ninoy Aquino.
haha natatawa ako kay tresita wood dahil ang totoo puro paghihiganti lang ginawa ni Cory nung naupo siya. Eto lang ang masasabi ko sayo lahat nang ginawa ng mga marcos, mabuti man o masama, ay binura ni madame Cory tapos pagkatapos nun nagala-artista siya!!…
Ferdinand marcos didnt ordered to kill ninoy it is Imelda Marcos because my father said ferdinand marcos was sick in that time so he cant order so it can be imelda marcos
The truth will reveal kung patay na si DANDING, siya, si Imelda at si Ferdinand Marcos ang may alam at mastermind nang lahat.