Cory cool to pardon for another Ninoy killer

Former President Corazon Aquino reiterated yesterday her reluctance over the government’s move to give parole to one of the accused in the assassination of her husband, the late former senator Benigno Aquino Jr.

Speaking through her lawyers, Mrs. Aquino maintained that she has personally pardoned and prayed for the persons convicted in the case.

“She has no comment to make on this matter. Personally, she has pardoned and prayed for the persons convicted in that case. It was and it continues to be her wish, however, that the real principals of the crime be identified, even if they could no longer be brought to justice,” said Aquino’s lawyer, Fulgencio Factoran Jr.

“The people of the Philippines deserve to know the whole truth and no less. Such knowledge might help the country prevent a similar tragedy from happening again,” Factoran added.

The law firm – Factoran and Associates – wrote the former president’s reply to the letter of Director Reynaldo Bayang, executive director of the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP), who sought Mrs. Aquino and her only son, Sen. Benigno Aquino III’s separate comments on the plan to extend parole to Felizardo Taran.

The board is reviewing Taran’s parole.

This came a few weeks after President Arroyo pardoned M/Sgt. Pablo Martinez, another convict in the double murder of the late former senator Aquino and fall guy Rolando Galman.

Mrs. Aquino ordered the release of Martinez, who is already 70 years old, for humanitarian reasons because of his age.

The Aquinos assailed the pardon of Martinez as part of the political vendetta against their clan, who supported calls for the resignation of Mrs. Arroyo at the height of the “Hello, Garci” controversy that implicated the President in alleged irregularities in the 2004 presidential elections.

Taran, now 58 years old and suffering from diabetes and hypertension, asked the BPP to grant him parole due to his poor health.