U.S. Reacts Strongly Against Aquino Verdict : Widow Joins Race for President; Ver Back in Top Military Post

Corazon Aquino, wife of slain opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr., announced today that she will run for president in the Feb. 7 election against Ferdinand E. Marcos, who has ruled the Philippines for two decades.

Her announcement, at a press conference here, came only hours after Gen. Fabian C. Ver, who was acquitted Monday in the assassination of her husband, was reinstated by Marcos as head of the Philippine armed forces.

Aquino, 52, had long been under pressure from supporters to enter the race against Marcos. She said she offered to run with former Sen. Salvador H. Laurel as her vice president, but Laurel, who is considering his own campaign for the top spot, has not said whether he will accept.

Aquino, referring to Marcos, said, “For 20 years, we have had one of the most brilliant Filipinos” as president, “and yet look what has happened to our country. It has been devastated.”

Calling herself “the best known victim of Marcos’ long list of victims,” Aquino said she will offer hope to the l.2 million Filipinos who signed petitions urging her to run.

Gen. Ver had been accused of being an accessory to the 1983 killing of Aquino, who was shot to death at Manila airport as he returned from three years of self-exile in the United States.

A three-judge court Monday morning cleared the general, 24 other military men and a civilian of all charges. The court agreed with defense arguments that Aquino was killed by Rolando Galman, an alleged Communist-hired gunman, who was then slain by soldiers who met the plane carrying Aquino.

Ver, who wore civilian clothing at the court session, went to Malacanang Palace in uniform four hours later to give Marcos a letter requesting reinstatement as chief of staff. The president immediately restored him to his post “for such period as may be decided upon by me and upon the advice of the senior officers of the armed forces.”

The qualification appeared intended to blunt criticism here and in the United States of the return to command of a man under whose direction the army has been accused of widespread human rights abuses. Several members of the U.S. Congress had urged that Ver not be reinstated, and some reports have said that the Reagan Administration made similar appeals.

In a statement, Ver said it is his “fervent hope that the cloud of suspicion over me and my comrades in the military shall be forever cleared.”

Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, who was acting chief of staff during Ver’s leave of absence, remains commander of the Philippine Constabulary and of another force, the Integrated National Police.

Ver’s reinstatement was expected--Marcos had said it would be automatic if he were acquitted--but could lead to polarization within the armed forces between his followers and those of Ramos.

Marcos called Ver and other senior commanders to a meeting today to reorganize the armed forces. A palace news release said Ver suggested the meeting in order to inform Marcos of “certain security matters of a highly sensitive and extremely urgent nature” that require presidential attention. No further details were available.

Reaction from opposition leaders was bitter. “Heaven help all of us Filipinos if we have to depend on him (Ver) to protect us,” Aquino’s wife said before she announced her candidacy.

Justice Was ‘Not Possible’

“Now that the verdict is out, the Filipino people can fully understand why I said from the very beginning that justice is not possible so long as Mr. Marcos continues to be head of our government,” Aquino said.

She said she is convinced “that misguided elements in the military had a direct hand in the assassination of Ninoy”--her husband’s nickname--and she described his killing as a “heinous crime committed by a handful of Mr. Marcos’ most loyal henchmen.”

“I still believe Mr. Marcos had to give the order,” Aquino declared.

Opposition leader Laurel called the verdict a “whitewash” by the Sandiganbayan, the trial court in the seven-month-long proceedings.

“Ninoy Aquino . . . has been assassinated anew by the Sandiganbayan,” Laurel said, “but justice will ultimately be given him after we topple the Marcos regime. . . . The people know the truth. It cannot be concealed.”

A bill authorizing the elections was approved by the Philippine National Assembly late Monday night and signed by the president.

Boost for Rival Seen

Laurel said the trial verdict will benefit Aquino. “It refocuses attention on Ninoy and the fact that he was not given justice,” he said. “Therefore, the widow has every right to go all out, fighting for justice that has been denied.”

Andres Narvasa, chief counsel of a civilian board whose findings of military complicity in the assassination served as the basis of the prosecution case, said he is “very disappointed” with the verdict.

“It takes your breath away, doesn’t it?” he remarked.

Jaime Ferrer, an influential opposition member of the National Assembly, called the decision “the biggest injustice in the country’s history.”

Monday passed without the emotional and sometimes violent demonstrations that followed Aquino’s assassination on Aug. 21, 1983.

A rally protesting the verdict is scheduled today in the financial district of Makati, and there were calls in the streets for a “noise barrage” tonight, a demonstration that would be marked by the clamor of banging garbage-can lids.

In its decision, the court said that “overwhelming” evidence supported the defense assertion that Galman was the assassin.

The judges also said that, despite military testimony, security was “not tight” at the airport, allowing Galman to reach the plane in the uniform of an airport worker.