Aquinos slam pardon of Ninoy killer

December 4, 2007  --  Got something to say?
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M/Sgt. Pablo Martinez, 70
MANILA The family of the late Sen. Benigno Ninoy Aquino, Jr. expressed indignation over the Nov. 22 conditional pardon by President Gloria M. Arroyo of one of the killers of senator.

Sen. Benigno Noynoy Aquino III said the family was indignant because the pardon of M/Sgt. Pablo Martinez, 70, was another injustice committed against the late senator whose birthday was to be observed Nov. 27.

Noynoy said the decision came at the height of renewed calls for Arroyo to resign in the wake of fresh scandals involving her and her administration. This administration has committed many injustices, and this one is the latest, Aquino said in a phone interview.

Mrs. Arroyo pardoned former M/Sgt. Pablo Martinez on humanitarian grounds, noting he has turned 70.
Martinez had claimed he was under orders to shoot Rolando Galman if the latter hesitated to carry out his mission to gun down Ninoy Aquino at the airport tarmac on Aug. 21, 1983.

Lets put on record that he has never admitted to the crime, that he has never sought forgiveness,” Aquino said. We cant understand why somebody who is not contrite was pardoned.”

He said Mrs. Arroyo?s decision could have been political in nature because his mother former President Corazon Aquino called for Mrs. Arroyos resignation in 2005.

“Next week its my fathers birthday and look what he has for present from Mrs. Arroyo,” Aquino said.
On November 27, we will be commemorating the birth anniversary of my father. This decision by the government is not the way to honor and pay tribute to the sacrifices of a hero who gave his life for his country and fought for the freedoms that we now enjoy,” he said in a statement.

I sincerely hope that the pardon that was granted to one of my fathers assassins is not a vengeful act against our family as we continue to stand firmly in holding this government accountable for its actions,” the senator said.

Senate President Manuel Villar, Senators Joker Arroyo, and Miriam Defensor Santiago welcomed the Presidents move but stressed the need for the government to renew efforts to pin down the mastermind.

Why is it that the mastermind remains free? These people may not be able to identify the real mastermind because of several layers between the soldiers and the mastermind,” Sen. Arroyo, who was executive secretary under the Aquino administration. He said Martinez had spent more than two decades in jail, and suffered enough for his crime.

Villar said the people should be compassionate enough to understand that a 70 year old should be allowed to spend time with family.

Ninoys younger brother former senator Agapito Butz Aquino said he has forgiven Martinez and fellow convicts but wished they admit their crime and show contrition.

President Arroyo said in a written order that Martinez had been granted conditional pardon and would be returned to prison to serve the rest of his sentence if he broke any law.

Persida Rueda Acosta, head of the Public Attorneys Office said Martinez qualified for presidential clemency because he was already 70. Acosta picked up Martinez from the maximum security section of the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa, ending his 24-year jail stint.

I ask for forgiveness. I assure them that they remain in my prayers, Martinez told a news conference.
Im happy to be reunited with my family, my children, Martinez who became a born-again pastor while in prison, said. But he expressed sadness at leaving his co-accused behind.

Martinez also said he is suffering from hypertension, diabetes and ulcer. He said his health condition has worsened because there are not enough medical facilities at the national penitentiary for old and sickly inmates.

Malacaang said the pardon was on humanitarian grounds and that those who object to it should file a formal complaint Both Martinez and Acosta urged the President to extend clemency to the other jailed ex-soldiers, all members of what the courts ruled was a murder conspiracy. A formal request for clemency was made in August.

Rueda said the other convicts were qualified for pardon.
One of the convicts Avsecom chief Brig. Gen. Luther Custodio died of cancer in prison in 1991, while another, Airman 1st Class Cordova Estelo, was stabbed dead by another inmate in 2005.

The assassination, believed to have been ordered by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, sparked outrage and massive street protests that led to the ouster of the strongman in a relatively peaceful military-backed civilian uprising after a disputed snap presidential election in which he ran against Ninoys widow, Corazon Aquino, Mrs. Aquino has always held Marcos responsible for the murder, though the mastermind has never been identified. Marcos died in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

Martinez had tried to convince the Supreme Court that his fellow convicts were innocent and that it was he who was directly involved in the case, having kept an eye on Galman and brought him to the tarmac.

It is conceded that only petitioner Pablo Martinez was with Galman, and aware of the mission to assassinate Ninoy, for which the former had his own reasons for following such orders, for fear of his own life,” his lawyers told the SC.
Convicted with Martinez on Sept. 28, 1990 were Custodio, Estelo, Capt. Romeo Bautista, 2nd Lt. Jesus Castro, and Sergeants Claro L. Lat, Arnulfo de Mesa, Filomeno Miranda, Rolando de Guzman, Ernesto Mateo, Rodolfo Desolong, Ruben Aquino and Arnulfo Artates, supposed gunman Constable Rogelio Moreno, C1C Mario Lazaga, and A1C Felizardo Taran. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction on July 23, 1991.

Much of the records of the case were drawn from documents culled by the Agrava Fact-Finding Board formed by Marcos on Oct. 22, 1983, apparently to ease a simmering national outrage. It was named after its head former Court of Appeals Justice Corazon Agrava, The board held 125 hearings from Nov. 3, 1983 and obtained testimonies from 194 witnesses.
The Agrava Board released its report in October 1984 naming then Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Fabian Ver in a military conspiracy to kill Ninoy. Two years later, the Sandiganbayan, then headed by Justice Manuel Pamaran acquitted the accused.

After the February 1986 People Power, the SC ordered a retrial by the Sandiganbayan which ordered the arrest of military men, including Ver who had already left the country.

New Bilibid Prisons Director Ricardo Dapat, meanwhile, said that in compliance with a recent order of the Department of Justice, he has referred to the Board of Pardons and Parole cases of around 200 inmates who are 70 years old and above.

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