i thought it was just another house of reps dengvaxia hearing, even if rather star-studded with pNoy himself and butch abad sitting next to da janet garin, and across them the kontrabidas (or is it the other way around) PAO’s persida acosta and erwin erfe and tony leachon. but i was only half-listening, parang i had heard it all before.
i didn’t realize until after, from news reports, that things had heated up pala. nagkainitan, with dr. erwin erfe’s forensic expertise questioned again and again. erfe’s response after was to publicly remind aquino: “I reviewed your dad’s murder.”
Defending his credentials, Erfe noted that he was tapped in 2004 to review the forensic evidence in the assassination of Aquino’s father, slain senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. when his convicted killers sought a re-opening of his murder case before the Supreme Court.
“Noong 2004 po, kinuha po kami ng Public Attorney’s Office para pag-aralan ang assassination ni Senator Ninoy Aquino… Alam po iyun ng dating Presidente,” Erfe told DZMM.
The Aquino camp’s lawyer, former senator Rene Saguisag, had coordinated with PAO experts and presented their findings to the high court, he added.
that night erfe posted on his fb wall:
cryptic, at malaman, ang dating sa akin ng paalala ni erfe kay pNoy that he was part of the 2004 re-investigation of ninoy’s death… the unsaid being: meron akong alam…? it could be just my fertile imagination, but why else would erfe bring up ninoy’s assassination out of the blue, e dengvaxia ang pinag-uusapan. pNoy as common denominator?
my seniorcit memory bank drew a blank on PAO’s case in behalf of the convicted soldiers in 2004, but in 2009 i blogged on ninoy’s killers. this was sometime after the release of the jailed soldiers, thanks to president gma’s grant of clemency. the aquinos were upset because the ex-convicts continued to declare their innocence, point to galman as the culprit, and to danding as the mastermind.
at the time it seemed clear that ninoy was shot sa hagdan pa lang, and given the bullet’s downward trajectory, that the gunman was the soldier behind ninoy. but now i’m not sure, not after watching this 2003 Saksi segment NINOY AQUINO Assassination Theories: Did Rolando Galman do it?! with UP prof jerome bailen who led the PAO team. the audio is terrible so i transcribed it here.
V.O. Ayon sa Sandiganbayan… si Constable 1st Class Rogelio Moreno ang napatunayang pumatay kay Ninoy.
Nasa likod ni Ninoy si Moreno nang mabaril ito. Pero sa pagsisiyasat ni Professor Jerome Bailen, isang forensic expert, mali raw ang interpretasyon ng Agrava Commission na ginamit ng Sandiganbayan para desiyunan ang kaso ng mga sundalo.
Imposible raw na sa kaliwang bahagi ng ulo tatama ang bala kung ang bumaril ay right-handed, tulad ni Moreno.
Ang nakita ni Bailen na posibleng bumaril kay Ninoy ay si Rolando Galman dahil siya ang nasa kaliwa ni Ninoy.
BAILEN: “Hindi puwedeng si Moreno ang bumaril niyan … it should be from the left.”
VO Imposible rin daw na sa hagdan binaril si Ninoy gaya ng paniniwala ng Agrava Commission dahil kung totoo ito, dapat ay sa harap ng hagdan mismo bumagsak ang katawan ng dating senador.
Natagpuan ang katawan ni Ninoy sa kaliwa ng hagdan, ilang metro ang layo sa hagdanan, na tugma sa sinasabi ng mga sundalo na binaril siya sa tarmac.
Isa pang punto, sa impact daw ng pagsabog ng bala sa ulo ni ninoy, malamang daw na magnum .357 revolver ang ginamit na armas, taliwas sa tingin ng Agrava Board na .38 o .45 caliber pistol ang ginamit.
the davide court, however, refused to re-open the case in 2005, saying that no new evidence was presented by the PAO team.
… we are not moved by petitioners assertion that the forensic evidence may have been manipulated and misinterpreted during the trial of the case. Again, petitioners did not allege concrete facts to support their crass claim. Hence, we find the same to be unfounded and purely speculative.
but check out these videos that raise the galman angle, see / sense why the galman-killed-ninoy school of thought refuses to die.
HISTORY™ (4 of 5) The Assassination of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.
Who killed Ninoy
Ninoy Aquino Assassination: The Mystery Behind Rolando Galman’s .357 Magnum!
it would be great to hear it from dr. erfe: why was the PAO team so sure it was rolando galman who shot ninoy? puwede nga na hindi sa hagdan binaril si ninoy, it just means they went down those stairs pretty fast, or just faster than the prosecution would have us believe. and the magnum .357 story is so mixed up it makes sense, if you’re trying to hide something.
but but but how does one explain what the crying lady, rebecca quijano, says she saw: that ninoy was shot on the stairs, by the soldier behind him, which testimony was confirmed by other eyewitnesses and believed by the court.
one theory is, galman was brought in by one faction of the military to kill ninoy sa tarmac, but the soldiers escorting ninoy, from another faction, were given instructions to kill him on the stairs.
posible ba na kinaladkad na lang si ninoy down the rest of the stairs and then some of the way toward the van? habang pinapatay si galman ng iba pang faction? but then there would be signs of the kaladkaran. and why ba didn’t they make ninoy sakay in the van right away? photo-op muna, to show ninoy and his alleged killer galman, and galman’s magnum .357?
the real question is, why is it so unbelievable that galman killed ninoy? why did the supreme court consider it a “crass claim,” not to be entertained?
actually it’s not galman killing ninoy that’s unbelievable, rather it’s who allegedly set up galman, who allegedly ordered / paid for the assassination. sabi ng ilang sundalong nakulong, ang salarin daw ay si danding cojuangco, pinsang buo ni cory na number one business crony ni marcos. ang problema, walang proof against danding. he has never even had to deny it. and the courts refuse to hear it. out of respect ba for cory who refused to believe it?
the aquino children, too, do not believe that danding could have done such a thing, family and all that. yeah, right. so defensive for the uncle who allied with the dictator who jailed ninoy for 7 yrs 7 mos. too bad “family” got in the way of the aquinos, but not in the way of danding?
which brings me back to dr. erfe. pogi points for him and dr. leachon for being on the PAO side that’s calling out the DOH on conflict of interest; it tells me they’re clean, uninvested in big pharma, or they wouldn’t dare speak out? i’d like to hear their official report on the alleged dengvaxia-related deaths, undiluted, unedited, uncensored by the PGH and DOH or any of their agencies.
after that, let’s hear from dr. erfe on the ninoy assassination.