The Unknown Mastermind Behind Ninoy Aquino's Death

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Today is Ninoy Aquino Day though the holiday has been moved to Friday. It's to promote the long weekend. I'm ashamed as some people continue to promote the idea that it's a "revisionist thing". Unlike Christmas, Ramadan, New Year, Chinese New Year, etc.--commemorating the death of the late Benigno Simeon "Ninoy" A. Aquino Jr. might be best called a political holiday. I would like to discuss what might remain as a mysterious murder case. There are times when crimes happen and the wrong person is caught. A crime can occur and most people will never know who masterminded it. It may be the case of Ninoy. Some day it was the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. and others say it was the late Eduardo "Danding" Cojuangco. However, there hasn't been any empirical evidence to justify the claims. 

I wouldn't claim to now who committed the murder. I remember growing up believing that Marcos Sr. was the one who ordered the assassination. Another person said it was actually masterminded by either Imelda Romualdez-Marcos or the late Fabian Ver. However, these are very shaky claims. As the discussion went on, Marcos' health was already mentioned. It didn't take long before I read the book From Third World to First. What amazed me was the evidence that Cesar Virata was no leader. It was also some details that the late Lee Kuan Yew said concerning Marcos' ill health.

On pages 300-301 of From Third World to First, we can read these details that somehow dismiss Marcos' involvement in Ninoy's death:

Marcos, ruling under martial law, had detained opposition leader Benigno (Ninoy) Aquino, reputed to be as charismatic and powerful a campaigner as he was. He freed Aquino and allowed him to go to the United States. As the economic situation of the Philippines deteriorated, Aquino announced his decision to return. Mrs. Marcos issued several warnings. When the plane arrived at Manila Airport from Taipei in August 1983, he was shot as he descended from the aircraft. A whole posse of foreign correspondents with television camera crews accompanying him on the aircraft was not enough protection.

International outrage over the killing resulted in foreign banks stopping all loans to the Philippines, which owed over US$ 25 billion and could not pay the interest due. This brought Marocs to the crunch. He sent his minister for trade and industry, Bobby Ongpin, to ask me for a loan of US$300-500 million to meet the interest payments. I looked him straight in the eye and said, "We will never see the money back." Moreover, I added, everyone knew that Marcos was seriously ill and under constant medication for a wasting disease. What was needed was a strong healthy leader, not more loans. 

Shortly afterward, in February 1984, Marcos met me in Brunei at the sultanate's independence celebrations. He had undergone a dramatic physical change. Although less puffy than he appeared on television, his complexion was dark as if he had been out in the sun. He was breathing hard as he spoke, his voice was soft, eyes bleary, and hair thinning. He looked most unhealthy. An ambulance with all the necessary equipment and a team of Filipino doctors were on standby outside his guest bungalow. Marcos spent much of his time giving me a most improbable story of how Aquino had been shot. 

What was interesting was that this narrative also led to Virata. Yes, Virata the person whom people say was proof that the first Marcos Administration was under a parliamentary system. LKY didn't believe the story that Marcos had given on how Ninoy was shot. However, the way LKY described Marcos makes me question, "Could it be possible that a man that terminally ill, could've masterminded such a daring murder plot?" It was also at that time when Marcos nominated Virata to succeed him. However, LKY had pointed out Virata was no political leader, even if he was a first-class administrator. How can Virata be the prime minister of a parliamentary government, when he was definitely not even leading it? LKY was a prime minister of a parliamentary system. In short, using Marcos as an excuse not to shift to parliamentary is based on the wrong information.

This should remain disturbing to this guy. After Ninoy's death on August 21, 1981--there would be some other cases still unsolved. My two favorite cases are the Vizconde Massacre and the Chiong Sisters Case. People believed that Hubert Jeffry Webb et al were the murderers, but the case was poorly handled (read here). Later on, it was also uncovered that Francisco Juan G. Larrañaga was actually in Manila when the Chiong sisters disappeared (read here). It's already 2024 and the mastermind has not been found. It may still remain as a strong enduring mystery to the public. 

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