Soldiers in 1983 Ninoy slay want to tell all in movie

A movie will be made about the August 1983 Aquino-Galman murder case based on the testimony of the 15 former soldiers convicted of killing Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. and his military-tagged assassin, Rolando Galman.

Msgr. Robert Olaguer, National Penitentiary chaplain, said the former soldiers would try to have their story filmed if they fail to get the Supreme Court to grant them a new trial.

"Pampelikula talaga ang nangyari sa kanila. Sigurado papatok yun sa takilya (Their story is really for the movies. It would be a box office hit)," he said.

Olaguer said the former soldiers would like movie director Carlo Caparas and his wife, Donna Villa, who specialize in true-life stories, to produce and direct the film.

"We are not under martial law anyway," he said. "So we think there will be no hindrance in making the film."

The 15 former soldiers are desperate to let the public know the identity of the mastermind behind the murder case, especially after the Supreme Court denied their petition for a new trial two weeks ago, Olaguer said.

Former master sergeant Pablo Martinez, 67, one of the convicted who is now a pastor, said he would like to reveal information that would lead to the arrest of the mastermind.

Martinez’s testimony was to be corroborated by a new witness, a brother of Galman’s alleged girlfriend, who was also murdered, along with her sister.

In a letter to then President Fidel Ramos on Jan. 19, 1994, Martinez cleared the 14 other former soldiers of participation in the killing of Aquino and Galman.

Chief Public Attorney Persida Rueda-Acosta said the soldiers told her that they would rather die than spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Following American jurisprudence, the Supreme Court could reopen the 22-year-old murder case based on the new findings of forensic experts and the testimonies of new witnesses, she added.

The Public Attorney’s Office said a new witness, Senior Police Officer 1 Ruben Cantimbuhan, is a "material and vital witness" who drove the van that took the body of Aquino to Fort Bonifacio in Makati on Aug. 21, 1983.

Apart from Martinez, others convicted in the Aquino-Galman murder case are: former Capt. Romeo Bautista; former 2Lt. Jesus Castro; former sergeants Claro Lat, Arnulfo de Mesa, Filomendo Miranda, Rolando de Guzman, Ernesto Mateo, Rodolfo Desolong, Ruben Aquino, and Arnulfo Artates; former constable 1st class Rogelio Moreno; and former airmen 1st class Cordova Estelo, Felizardo Taran and Mario Lazaga.