Assassination of Ninoy Aquino
On August 21, 1983, on the apron of what was then Manila International Airport, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., a former Philippine senator, was assassinated with a gunshot to the head. Aquino, a longtime opponent of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., had just returned from three years of self-imposed exile in the United States, and was being taken to a vehicle which would return him to prison. Also killed was Rolando Galman, accused of murdering him.
In 1967, Aquino was elected to the Philippine Senate. As a Senator, he was sharply critical of Marcos. In 1972, shortly after martial law was declared by Marcos, he was imprisoned on falsified charges; he was only released in 1980, when he had a heart attack. He spent the next three years near Boston before deciding to return to the Philippines.
Aquino's assassination is credited with transforming the isolated opposition to Marcos into a national crusade, and, in tandem, with thrusting Aquino's widow, Corazon Aquino, into the spotlight. In 1986, Marcos called a snap presidential election. Corazon Aquino was a candidate, and though she did not win, she became President anyway when Marcos, concerned by the ensuing People Power Revolution, resigned, and fled the country.
Although it is widely believed, including by his family, that Aquino was assassinated on the orders of Marcos, this has never been conclusively proven. An investigation instigated by Marcos shortly after the assassination resulted in 25 military personnel and one civilian being charged with murder; all were acquitted by the Sandiganbayan. A second investigation, during the presidency of Corazon Aquino, led to a retrial of 16 military personnel, all of whom were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sandiganbayan. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision, and rejected later motions by the convicted soldiers for a retrial. One of the convicts was subsequently pardoned, three died in prison, and the remainder had their sentences commuted at various times. The last convicts were released from prison in 2009, the same year in which Corazon Aquino died.
Background
Ninoy Aquino began his political career in 1955 first by becoming the mayor of Concepcion, and would go on becoming vice governor of Tarlac in 1959, governor of Tarlac in 1961, and senator 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.Aquino was supposed to run for president in the 1973 elections when Marcos declared martial law on September 23, 1972. On that night, Aquino was imprisoned in Fort Bonifacio, and in 1973, Aquino was falsely charged of murder and subversion. Aquino would first refuse to participate in the military trial citing "injustice", before going on a hunger strike, only for him to go into a coma after 40 days. The trial continued until November 25, 1977, when Aquino was convicted on all charges and was sentenced to death by firing squad. 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 early 1978, Aquino, still in prison, founded a political party named Lakas ng Bayan to run for office in the interim Batasang Pambansa elections. During the campaign, Juan Ponce Enrile accused Ninoy Aquino of having connections with the New People's Army and the CIA, prompting Aquino to appear on a nationally televised interview on March 10, 1978. All LABAN candidates lost to candidates of Marcos' party, amid allegations of election fraud.
On March 19, 1980, Aquino had a heart attack in prison, and in May 1980, he was transported to the Philippine Heart Center where he had a second heart attack. Aquino was diagnosed with angina pectoris and needed triple bypass surgery; however, no surgeon would 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. First Lady Imelda Marcos arranged for Aquino to undergo surgery at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and he would be released from prison on humanitarian grounds to leave with his family for Los Angeles on a Philippine Airlines flight on May 8, 1980. After the surgery, Aquino 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. As Aquino was to return in 1983 as stipulated in his conditions for his release, Jovito Salonga, then head of the Liberal Party, said about Aquino:
Prelude
During an encounter with Imelda Marcos in 1982, Aquino handed her his expiring passport, unaware that she would keep it under her possession. Aquino attempted to submit travel papers at the Philippine Consulate in New York City in June 1983 and would end up with two passportsone a blank passport bearing Aquino's real name and the other a passport issued in the Middle East under the alias "Marcial Bonifacio". In July 1983, Pacifico Castro warned international air carriers not to allow Aquino to board its planes. Aquino was to return on August 7, but was warned by Juan Ponce Enrile on August 2 to delay his return trip due to alleged "plots against his life".On August 13, 1983, Aquino, following a morning worship service, went to Boston International Airport, where he would take a flight to Los Angeles to attend conferences with his fellow Filipino contacts. From there, he flew to Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, before heading to Malaysia, where Aquino would meet with Mahathir Mohamad as well as Indonesian and Thai officials. Aquino would then move back to Singapore, before going to Hong Kong, where he boarded a China Airlines plane bound for Taipei. Once Aquino arrived in Taipei on August 19, he was met by his brother-in-law Ken Kashiwahara, a journalist for ABC News on vacation at that time. On August 20, Aquino was joined by journalists, including Katsu Ueda, Arthur Kan, Toshi Matsumoto, Kiyoshi Wakamiya, and news crews from ABC News and Tokyo Broadcasting System, and would later give 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:
On August 21, 1983, Aquino left the Grand Hotel at 9:30 am for Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. Upon arrival at the airport terminal at 10:10 am, Aquino had to spend 20 minutes being driven in circles during baggage check-in to reduce suspicion. After going through immigration via his Marcial Bonifacio passport, Aquino would be stopped by two Taiwanese airport officials, before he boarded China Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 767-200 bound for Manila, and left Taiwan at 11:15 am. In Manila, at least 20,000 opposition supporters arrive at the Manila International Airport via buses and jeeps decorated with yellow ribbons. Aurora Aquino and opposition candidates are also present, while a contingent of over 1,000 armed soldiers and police were assigned by the government to provide security for Aquino's arrival. During the flight, Aquino went to the lavatory to put on his bulletproof vest and handed over a gold watch to Kashiwahara, telling his brother-in law to fetch a bag containing clothes for Aquino's first few days back in prison. 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.
Preparations
On August 19, 1983, then-Assemblyman Salvador Laurel informed Chief of the Philippine Constabulary Gen. Fidel V. Ramos the arrival of Aquino, requesting "all necessary security measures be undertaken to protect the Senator in view of reported plots against his life." The letter was referred to Chief of Staff Gen. Fabian Ver, who in turn, issued instructions to Aviation Security Command Commander Brig. Gen. Luther A. Custodio "to provide necessary security safeguards to protect Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. while the latter was at the MIA complex."Under the plan codenamed Oplan Balikbayan, alternative routes were prepared in bringing Aquino from his plane to the SWAT van which was designated to take the senator to Fort Bonifacio:
- Plan ALPHA – Boarding party will escort to exit thru the tube, to the remote holding room to the SWAT van.
- Plan BRAVO – Boarding party will escort to exit thru the bridge stairs to the SWAT van.
The "boarding party" that would fetch Sen. Aquino from the plane and ferry him to Fort Bonifacio was initially composed of the following:
- 2Lt Jesus Castro
- Sgt. Arnulfo de Mesa
- Sgt. Claro Lat
- CIC Mario Lazaga
- CIC Rogelio Moreno
Assassination
At 1:14 pm, Aquino rose from seat 14C, and soldiers escorted him off the airplane; instead of going to the terminal, Aquino would, via the jet bridge's service staircase, be taken straight into the tarmac, where a blue AVSECOM van was waiting. Just before shots were fired, one person said "Ako na!" as Aquino went into the service staircase, while another said "Pusila! Pusila! Op! Pusila! Pusila! Pusila!". The audio was recorded on the news camera, but the actual shooting of Aquino was not caught on camera due to the movement and exposure to bright sunlight.
Fifty seconds after Aquino rose from his seat, a shot was fired, followed three seconds later by a volley of four shots lasting half a second, and then a second volley of at least twelve shots. Amidst the chaos, multiple journalists try to record the scene but all recordings were too exposed to light. When the firing stopped, Aquino and a man later identified as Rolando Galman lay dead on the apron, both from gunshot wounds. Twenty-six M16 casings, one.45 casing, and five unused cartridges were dropped at the scene of the crime. Aquino's body was carried into an Aviation Security Command 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. According to news reports, Aquino had died before arriving at Fort Bonifacio General Hospital; that claim remains controversial due to contradicting evidence presented in court interviews of General Custodio.
Autopsies of both Aquino and Galman were conducted by medical-legal officers Bienvenido O. Muñoz and Nieto M. Salvador at the Loyola Memorial Chapel Morgue and the Philippine Constabulary Crime Laboratory at 10 pm and 11:20 pm, respectively. The Muñoz autopsy showed that Aquino was fatally hit by a bullet "directed forward, downward, and medially" into the head behind his left ear, leaving behind three metal fragments in his head. Bruises were found on Aquino's eyelids, left temple, upper lip, left arm, and left shoulder, while bleeding was found in the forehead and cheek. The Salvador autopsy showed that Galman had died of "shock secondary to gunshot wounds" with eight wounds in his body; the first wound was found behind and above the left ear, second to fourth wounds in the chest, fifth and sixth wound in the back, the seventh wound with nine perforations from stomach to right thigh, and the eighth wound in the elbow region. Seven bullets – four "deformed jacketed", two "slightly deformed jacketed", and one "deformed copper jacket" - were also inside Galman's body.