Court Reaches a Verdict in Aquino Slaying

The special court trying 26 men accused in the 1983 assassination of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. has reached a verdict, Justice Augusto Amores said Tuesday.

Amores did not disclose the verdict but said it is unanimous and that the decision is 100 pages long. The defendants, including Gen. Fabian C. Ver, armed forces chief of staff, were ordered to appear before the court Nov. 20, when the decision will be announced.

The verdict will be potentially explosive in the political climate here, heightened by President Ferdinand E. Marcos’ call for early presidential elections.

President’s Pledge

The president has pledged to reinstate Ver, on voluntary leave since he was charged as an accomplice in the assassination, if he is acquitted.

Amores, Presiding Justice Manuel Pamaran and Justice Bienvenido Vera Cruz heard seven months of testimony in the case before the Sandiganbayan, a court established to hear corruption charges against government officials. Twenty-five of the defendants are military men.

The judges began their deliberations on Sept. 26.

Announcement of the verdict was delayed to allow the Supreme Court to consider a petition, filed Monday, accusing the three justices and the prosecutor of “serious irregularities in the proceedings and . . . manifest bias” in favor of the accused. The petition seeks declaration of a mistrial and a new trial before another court.

Prominent Protesters

It was signed by 31 Filipinos, including prominent businessmen, human right leaders and former Justice Cecilia Munoz-Palma, head of the opposition’s National Unification Committee.

The Supreme Court could declare a mistrial, reject the petition or temporarily restrain the trial judges from issuing their verdict while it considers the matter.

Amores, in disclosing that a verdict had been reached, said there has been “no pressure (on the court) insofar as I’m concerned.”

Politics was not a factor in the deliberations, he insisted. “We’re just like a computer,” he said. “We act on whatever is fed us.”

The justice described the celebrated trial as “an ordinary murder case.”

A verdict was not mandatory until late December, and in the election fever of Manila the timing of its release is significant.

Opposition politicians have said privately that an early verdict would serve Marcos’ purposes, assuming that Ver will be acquitted. His reinstatement would be a red flag to the opposition, and Marcos foes say the president would prefer an early verdict in hopes that any uproar would subside before election day.

‘Tired of the Trial’

Demonstrations are likely in the event of an acquittal. “But I doubt that they would be as large as those that followed the assassination,” said Felix Bautista, editor of Veritas, a church-related weekly. “People have tired of the trial.”

The opposition blames Ver for human rights abuses by the military under his command. In the trial, he is accused of taking part in a cover-up of a military conspiracy to assassinate Aquino, who was shot to death on Aug. 21, 1983, as he arrived at Manila International Airport from a self-imposed exile in the United States.

The trial began last February. Defendants were charged directly or as accomplices in the murders of Aquino and also Rolando Galman.

The military said that Galman, a shadowy, underworld figure, killed Aquino as the former senator descended a stairway onto the airport tarmac and that security men then shot Galman. The prosecution accused the military of shooting both men and said that Galman was brought to the airport by the military and set up to take the blame.

‘Crying Lady’

Highlights of the trial included the testimony of Rebecca Quijano, the “Crying Lady,” the only purported eyewitness to take the stand.

The court’s decision to reject certain evidence designed to prove a conspiracy, including Ver’s testimony before a civilian fact-finding board that blamed the military for the assassination, also stirred controversy in a trial that generally lost public interest over the months.

The defendants, who included two other generals besides Ver, rarely appeared at the sessions.

Meanwhile, in other developments:

--The Convenor Group, an influential opposition organization, endorsed Aquino’s widow, Corazon, as its nominee to oppose Marcos in the elections he has called for Jan. 17. She has yet to declare her candidacy.

--Political insiders said a delay in the elections is likely as the ruling KBL party and opposition politicians discuss the proposed date.

--American evangelist Jerry Falwell, here on a two-day trip in which he met with President Marcos and his wife, Imelda, and visited Baptist missionaries, called on the United States to support whoever wins the election.

“The United States has an obligation to stop bellyaching and get in and help,” he said in a departure press conference.