Top Philippine General Charged in Aquino Case : Military Chief and 25 Others to Go on Trial in Murders of Marcos Rival and Alleged Assassin

A government prosecutor on Wednesday charged the Philippines’ most powerful military commander and 25 other men in connection with the murders of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. and of the man once called his assassin.

Prosecutors said the charges against the armed forces chief, Gen. Fabian C. Ver, who is accused as an accessory in hiding the truth, and two other top generals close to President Ferdinand E. Marcos will lead to a “free and open” trial. It will show the world there is no cover-up in the killing of Marcos’ chief rival at Manila airport on Aug. 21, 1983, they said.

Aquino’s killing shocked the nation and led to a year of protests against Marcos’ two decades of authoritarian rule.

Report by Citizens’ Panel

The criminal charges filed Wednesday grew out of the work of a five-member citizens panel appointed by Marcos to investigate the case. That panel released its findings last October.

Most of the accused were part of the airport security operation assigned to protect Aquino, who was shot as he stepped off the airliner that brought him back to the Philippines after three years in self-exile.

Marcos has denied repeated allegations by the political opposition that he was involved in Aquino’s killing. But Ver is a distant relative of the president and is known for his unquestioning loyalty, so the charges against him bring the case closer to the president than many Filipinos expected.

The prosecutor accused 17 officers and soldiers led by the aviation security chief, Brig. Gen. Luther Custodio, of directly conspiring to kill both Aquino and Rolando Galman--the man previously alleged to be his killer. Galman was shot by security men moments after Aquino was slain. The charges carry a possible death penalty.

Ver and seven others were accused of being accessories in cover-up attempts. Among them is Maj. Gen. Prospero Olivas, who conducted a military investigation that concluded Galman was the killer. Each count carries a possible 20-year sentence.

The 26th person, businessman Hermilo Gosuico, was accused as an accomplice, which carries a possible life term. Galman’s children testified that Gosuico was among the men who took their father away three days before the assassination.

All of those charged except Ver, Olivas, Custodio and Gosuico were part of the security operation at the airport.

Technically, all 26 suspects were charged with double murder. But death penalties are possible only on the charges against Custodio and the 16 others accused as principals.

After the 1983 slaying, Marcos at first indicated that he supported the military’s assertion that Aquino had been killed by Galman, whom the military called a communist hit-man.

Later, however, Marcos appointed a five-member fact-finding board headed by retired Justice Corazon J. Agrava. After nearly a year of hearings, investigations and study in Manila, Los Angeles and Tokyo, the board concluded that there was a military plot to kill Aquino but split on its makeup.

Chairwoman Agrava filed a minority report accusing aviation security chief Custodio and six soldiers, but not Ver, of planning the assassination. The other four panel members, in a majority report, concluded that Ver was an accessory in a widespread plot involving 26 people. Neither report implicated Marcos or his wife, Imelda.

After receiving the panel reports last October, Marcos turned them over to a special ombudsman for further investigation.

The ombudsman, Justice Bernardo Fernandez, who filed the charges Wednesday, said in an interview that he is aware that many people would have liked to see Marcos himself accused.

“I don’t care whether or not the decision is popular as long as I am right,” he told a news conference after filing the 18-page complaint listing charges before a special court set up to try cases against government officials.

Aquino’s brother, Agapito, who has accused Marcos of plotting the assassination, said, “What is missing is the mastermind.”

“We cannot expect justice under Marcos,” he said.

Arrest warrants were expected to be issued today, with arraignment next week and trial to begin “very soon,” said Fernandez, who recommended bail at the equivalent of $833 for Ver and other accused accessories and at $1,111 for Gosuico.

He recommended no bail for those charged as conspirators.

Fernandez said Marcos has not tried to influence the prosecutors’ action. He said Marcos did call him once, to question delays in the inquiry.

A report by three prosecutors who recommended the charges agreed with the fact-finding board that Aquino was killed by one of his military escorts and that Galman was used as a decoy or scapegoat “to hide the identity of the real assassin.”

The prosecutors said the most likely triggerman was either Sgt. Rogelio Moreno or Filomeno Miranda, both of whom have been charged as conspirators.

Fernandez said the prosecutors rejected panel chairwoman Agrava’s conclusions, which exonerated Ver and named only six conspirators headed by Custodio.