Court Deals Aquino Case a Big Setback : Earlier Statements Can’t Be Used Against Marcos Aide Gen. Ver

MANILA — The Supreme Court said today that Armed Forces Chief Fabian Ver’s statements to a civilian panel investigating the 1983 murder of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. cannot be used in the general’s criminal trial.

A dissenting justice warned that the decision could lead to a false acquittal for Ver and his co-defendants.

Ver’s attorney, Antonio Coronel, said he would file a motion to dismiss charges against the four-star general if the prosecution does not contest the ruling within 15 days.

Coronel said the decision “shorten’s (Ver’s) route to acquittal” on charges he was involved in a conspiracy that led to the assassination of President Ferdinand E. Marcos’ chief political opponent Aug. 21, 1983, at Manila International Airport.

Communist Agent Killed

The military claims Aquino was shot to death by a communist agent, Rolando Galman, who was killed by soldiers seconds after Aquino died.

The court’s decision also applies to seven other soldiers on trial as accessories, including a general who conducted the investigation into the murder.

Voting 10 to 3, the high tribunal upheld a lower court ruling on the inadmissibility of the testimony given to a civilian commission in 1983 and 1984. It said Ver and the others “are deemed immunized.”

“Ninoy (Aquino’s nickname) must be turning over in his grave right now,” Prosecutor Manuel Herrera said.

Trial to Resume

“We won, we won,” a jubilant Manuel Pamaran, chief justice of the lower court handling the case, cried out in the courthouse. The trial, stalled pending the ruling, resumes Monday.

The Supreme Court upheld Pamaran’s ruling rejecting the testimony on grounds that the witnesses were not informed of their constitutional right to remain silent. It also sustained Pamaran’s view that the decree issued by Marcos creating the civilian commission provided that testimony by witnesses could not be used against them in a trial.