U.S. Objects, but Marcos Reinstates Ver

President Ferdinand E. Marcos reinstated Gen. Fabian C. Ver as armed forces chief over U.S. objections today just hours after Ver was acquitted in the 1983 murder of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr.

Ver appeared in Marcos’ study shortly after the verdict was handed down by a special three-judge court, saluted Marcos and formally requested reinstatement, the government said.

“The president approved the request and directed the general to immediately reassume his duties for such period as may be decided upon by (Marcos) and on the advice of the senior officers of the armed forces,” a presidential palace announcement said.

Swift Criticism

The 90-page decision that acquitted Ver also exonerated 24 other soldiers and a businessman. It drew swift criticism from Aquino’s family, opposition politicians and human rights lawyers and a strong denunciation from Cardinal Jaime Sin, archbishop of Manila.

In Washington, deputy State Department spokesman Charles Redman offered only implicit criticism of Marcos’ decision to reinstate Ver, saying that “thoroughgoing military reform” is required to deal effectively with the Marxist insurgency in the Philippines.

“How the reinstatement of Gen. Ver squares with President Marcos’ professed desire to initiate serious reforms in the Philippine military is a question only he can answer,” Redman said.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) criticized the outcome of the trial more directly.

“The court ruling does not contribute to the crying need for credibility in the Philippines government nor does it answer the need for reform and reorganization in the military,” he said.

Voluntarily Stepped Aside

Ver voluntarily stepped aside in October, 1984, when a civilian commission recommended that he and the 25 other men who were acquitted stand trial for the Aug. 21, 1983, murder of Aquino at Manila’s airport.

The verdict, which cannot be appealed, reversed the commission’s finding of a military conspiracy in Aquino’s murder.

“The flagrant disparity between the conclusions reached by the respected Agrava board and the decision handed down today by the Sandiganbayan threatens to push our country to the brink of violence and despair,” Sin said.