i’ve been writing a book on ninoy these last three years, about his life and about his death. on this 38th anniversary i find accounts by rappler posted on facebook and by abs-cbn news posted on twitter saying that ninoy was “killed on the tarmac.” my virgo self is dismayed.
according to my research, which includes reading through the Agrava Board’s Majority Report (1984) and the Sandiganbayan’s Hermosisima Decision (1990), ninoy was on the 11th step (of 20) of the bridgestairs when he was shot by one of the soldiers behind him. i imagine that he was then propped up and carried by the burly soldiers on either side of him down the rest of the stairs to the tarmac, and then unceremoniously dropped a few steps away from the AVSECOM van that would carry him away.
the story that he was “killed on the tarmac” is the tall tale of the military (echoed by olivas, ver, and marcos) who claim/ed that ninoy was already on the tarmac, walking towards the van when “communist hitman” galman sneaked in from behind and shot him. all the hard evidence and credible eyewitness reports point to the contrary, that is, to the stairs and the soldiers.
in less than a minute from the time ninoy exited the plane and took his first step down the stairs, both ninoy and galman were down, and ninoy taken away. it was quite a feat of planning and precision that of course the marcos military dares not claim credit for, ever.