Around this time of the year since 1983, this is a favorite question: who killed Ninoy Aquino?
To many who loved and admired this irrepressible opposition icon of Martial Law years, the answer was quick and precise: the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The reasoning was simple: as Ninoy was his number one political enemy and the one single threat to his authoritarian rule, Marcos was the only one with any motive to take Ninoy out– who else? That day in 1983 was the climax of the long-running feud between a bad guy and a good guy; that day, the good guy fell— that is all. Over the years, this became conventional wisdom. Forget about proof this time for Marcos was an evil genius of a lawyer who could make all traces leading to him disappear even in deathbed.
Some were unbelieving. I was one of them. It was a tragic crime, for sure, but for Marcos to mastermind the whole thing? he, the ever-calculating political fox plotting something as bloody messy and brazen as Ninoy’s assassination in broad daylight, right smack inside the country’s premier airport, with guards, escorts, passengers and all, where outside, thousands of his followers including his family were waiting…? If it had the mark of genius, it was not of Marcos but of someone with a flair for theater who wanted the strongman to fall with a loud thud on his ass.
The sentiment of the time prevailed over. It was to be the precursor of the president’s downfall less than three years later in what is known popularly to this day as EDSA People Power Revolution. And oh, what a loud thud of a fall it was, indeed.
But time revises sentiments and perspectives. Conventional wisdoms are forced through the crucible of new insights and information, especially when so many loose ends are sticking out of them. As it is, the assassination of Ninoy Aquino is being revisited again with new inputs that were then ignored or hidden for one reason or another. The Philippine Daily Inquirer has a running series on the matter, the most exhaustive so far:
Fewer than 10 people on the plot
Marcos: ‘ my best successor is Ninoy’
The Pattugalan memos
4 innocents picked up
Curiously, those who you expect to be enthusiastic are not enthusiastic. As one keen observer once remarked in puzzlement: why is it that the widow herself, former President Cory Aquino, seems uninterested in pursuing the case despite new compelling leads? To be sure, you see this attitude in all those who pointed and continue to point to Marcos as the murderer. It seems, to them the matter is closed and any further investigation is out of order. Marcos killed Ninoy, period. It is wasting time questioning that.
This indifference could not be without reason. The thing is this: the proposition that Ferdinand Marcos, if proved beyond doubt, had nothing to do with the killing of Ninoy does have far-reaching implications damning and unflattering to many revered personalities of EDSA and mocking of some treasured views. For one, the whole story of Ninoy Aquino’s heroism was perfected by his tragic death and the belief that his murder was the handiwork of his political archenemy, the evil one, President Marcos. Here you have one noble man willing to die for his country and there you have another whose wicked aim is to perpetuate his evil regime by all means foul and fair, including murder. Perfect antagonism in a perfect scenario out of a perfect storyline. But you begin making Marcos innocent in this whole assassination drama and the entire story is thrown off its axis and orbit. If indeed Ninoy was a mere unwitting pawn sacrificed to ruin Marcos, Ninoy the hero loses hold and Marcos the victim gains currency. And we have yet to consider the incredible story that Marcos was allegedly grooming Ninoy to be his successor.
For another, it would throw into disarray all claims to righteousness that was EDSA. After all, when we speak of EDSA People Power we speak of the triumph of goodness and justice over wickedness, injustice, darkness, and all things foul that they say the Marcos government was. Yet it would mean that from the very start the EDSA forces have been all along accusing an innocent person of a dastardly crime he did not commit. Well, okay, if you hate Marcos enough, you could write it off as his settlement for his own grave sins to the Filipinos and the rest of mankind, as it was with the Plaza Miranda bombing. Still, it does not look good if justice be thy name. Moeover, whatever the circumstances, false accusations raise the stock of the accused and disgrace the accuser.
There is yet another side to this sorry turn of events damning to the EDSA forces. Recall that sixteen soldiers were convicted of the crime and most of them remain to this day in prison, sick and aging. Now, if the revelations are correct, it means most of these soldiers were innocent all along, as they have been claiming from the start! And if so, it follows that the EDSA forces did send innocent men to prison, robbed them of their freedom and destroyed their lives! There goes to flame all claims to righteousness— for what graver injustice could be inflicted on another? It is one thing for villains to point accusing fingers to innocent men, for it goes with their nature, in the scheme of things. But as you claim to have affinity with the good forces of the universe, it is another to have committed the same transgression. Now, how could this thing be rectified without facing up to the ugly ramifications that go with it? This is dilemma in full perfection.
I have a feeling it was guilt surfacing when about the same time last year former Chief Justice Andres Narvasa made the opinion that the book on the Ninoy assassination be closed with finality by forgiving the soldiers convicted of the crime . One time Cory Aquino told the convicted soldiers to ask forgiveness and to confess the masterminds, and she will have them pardoned. They refused, insisting on their innocence. Often, I wonder now if it should not be her and the government asking for forgiveness from them instead.
UPDATE: Continuation of the PDI series
‘The most suspicious soldier on the tarmac’
‘To get to the mastermind, follow the money’
FINAL UPDATE:
Key players buried with their secrets
Talking of Peace in our Time:
This could well be a Game of the Generals, which the civilian leadership were unknowingly co-opted to play.
Let’s face it , military men are Machiavellian creatures. It could be that a raw deal was prepared by the hawks disguised as peaceniks knowing that it will not be acceptable and lead to another war in Mindanao.
More like War Dance! Again.