Cory on trail of men behind Aquino killing

Former president Corazon Aquino wants former president Fidel Ramos, and former senator Juan Ponce Enrile, to reveal the mastermind behind the killing of her husband, former Senator Benigno Aquino, at Manila's international airport on August 21, 1983, a spokeswoman said.

"If they have anything new to say, they must say it now," said Aquino's spokeswoman, Deedee Siytangco. "They owe it to the Filipino people to tell the truth."

"However, Mrs Aquino is comforted by the thought that the Filipino people know who was the real mastermind," she said, but did not give details.

Siytangco said the Aquino family will not determine if there should be a new investigation into the assassination which has remained unsolved after 19 years.

Earlier, Congressman Benigno Aquino III urged those who knew about the mastermind behind the killing of his father to come out in the open for the sake of future generations of Filipinos.

He was only 13 years old when his father was assassinated on his return from three years of exile in the U.S.

Enrile was the defence chief when former dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law rule on September 21, 1972.

Ramos, a cousin of Marcos, was the former vice-chief of staff and the head of the Philippine Constabulary at that time. But Marcos preferred Favian Ver, a driver, who became chief of staff.

Cory Aquino had anointed Ramos as her successor in the 1992 presidential polls. He remained loyal to her as her chief of staff and defence secretary when several coup plots beleaguered her from 1986 to 1992.

Enrile and Ramos said they were willing to participate in a new investigation into the Aquino assassination.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel called on Ramos earlier to enlighten the Filipino people on the Aquino murder.

"As Philippine Constabulary chief, it is impossible for Mr Ramos not to have known about the planned murder of Ninoy Aquino," noted Pimentel in a privileged speech at the senate on August 21. "He owes it to the Filipino people to identify who masterminded the murder," he said.

The Marcos administration pinpointed a fall guy, Rolando Galman, identified as a lone communist, as the killer of Aquino. He was also shot dead at the airport tarmac along with Aquino.

The death of Aquino united the middle class forces to hold anti-Marcos rallies from 1983 to 1986.

A fact-finding commission, headed by former justice, Corazon Agrava, ended with two reports.

One report blamed Ver and the military and paramilitary men who guarded the China Airlines plane that brought Aquino home from the U.S. Another report blamed only a handful of the military men who escorted Aquino from his seat on the plane down to the service stairway where he was killed.

The Sandiganbayan anti-graft court cleared all those who were proposed for indictment by the fact-finding commission in December, 1985. It was followed by snap polls that prompted Marcos and Cory Aquino to run for the presidency.

There were two different poll results. This prompted Ramos and Enrile to break away from Marcos, and it led to a people-backed military mutiny which paved the way for the ouster of Marcos and the ascendancy of Cory Aquino to power in 1986.

A retrial of the Aquino murder followed in 1987. By that time, Ver, the chief of staff, together with the Marcoses, had left for the U.S., where they lived in exile.

Former Aviation Security Command head, Gen. Luther Custodio, and 15 other soldiers were sentenced to death for the Aquino assassination.

Custodio, who could have identified the mastermind, died of cancer several months after the verdict.