Marcos Ordered Acquittal in Aquino Case: Prosecutor

Ferdinand E. Marcos instructed a judge and a panel of prosecutors to acquit soldiers accused of killing opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. in 1983, a prosecutor told a special commission today.

Manuel Herrera also told the commission that Marcos ordered prosecutors to charge then-armed forces chief Gen. Fabian C. Ver and several high-ranking officers as accessories rather than as principals in the slaying of President Corazon Aquino’s husband so they would be able to post bail while awaiting trial.

“It’s better that they be tried now and acquitted,” Herrera quoted Marcos as telling the group in a meeting in Marcos’ library at the presidential palace on Jan. 10, 1985.

Herrara quoted Justice Manuel Pamaran as saying, “Yes, Mr. President, that’s the better arrangement.”

Herrera was testifying at the first public hearing by a three-member commission of retired judges created by the Supreme Court. Its purpose is to receive evidence of alleged trial irregularities so the high court can determine whether to call a new trial.

Herrera, lead prosecutor in the 10-month trial that ended in last December’s acquittal of Ver and the 25 other defendants, has made similar allegations in interviews with reporters after the February revolution that ousted Marcos and brought Corazon Aquino to power.

Lawyers for the family of Rolando Galman, who was accused by the military of killing Aquino at the Manila airport, called the trial a sham and petitioned the Supreme Court for a new trial, citing Herrera’s allegations of pressure from Marcos and of collusion by the court.

Galman was killed by soldiers immediately after Aquino died.

Herrera said Marcos was sick during the January, 1985, meeting. “He was in slippers and pajamas with a robe. His two hands were on top of the table. His hands were bloated and his face puffy. He was groping for words,” Herrera testified.

Toward the end of the two-hour meeting, which he described as a virtual Marcos monologue, the prosecutor quoted Marcos as telling the group, in Tagalog, to “just play-act.”

“I can’t forget the last statement of Mr. Marcos. He said, ‘Gentlemen, I’m tired, I want to rest. Thank you for coming, thank you for your cooperation. I know how to reciprocate.’ ”