Galman stigma haunts son

MANILA, Philippines – Twenty-five years after his Tatay (father)’s death, Reynaldo Galman finds himself out of a job.

A registered nurse employed in the Middle East for the past 10 years, he finds that his last name makes government and private hospitals hesitate to hire him.

He wonders why as he remembers his Tatay as “napakabait (so good).”

His mom disappeared from his life in January 1984, and he was raised by relatives.

Reynaldo, now 35, sent himself through school with a scholarship from a Korean non-government organization.

Alone then, he is still alone and lonely as he marks his Tatay’s 25th death anniversary on Thursday.

Tatay is Rolando Galman, the alleged communist hit man tagged by the Marcos regime as the one who assassinated former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport on Aug. 21, 1983.

The Aquino family and most Filipinos believed otherwise.

In September 1990, the Sandiganbayan convicted 16 members of the Aviation Security Command for the murders of both Aquino and Galman, sentencing them to life in prison. The Avsecom was in charge of securing Aquino upon his arrival at the airport. The next year, the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction.

Twelve of the 16 who are alive and serving their sentence at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa still insist that it was Galman who shot Ninoy.

Reynaldo watched silently as the assassination unfolded onscreen yesterday at the Shangri-La EDSA theater, in a documentary titled “Beyond Conspiracy: 25 Years After the Aquino Assassination.” It will be shown on Aug. 24 on ABS-CBN.

The 90-minute documentary ends with this warning from the convicts: “Do not cross the masterminds because they can still make life difficult for you.”

Reynaldo won’t say who he thinks really ordered the assassination.

Earlier, Aquino’s brother Agapito “Butz” Aquino said he had told Reynaldo’s mother that he never believed Galman had killed Ninoy.

Butz and his sisters Lupita Kashiwahara and former Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta readily agreed to pose for a photo with Reynaldo.

Interviewed for the documentary, he said he was used to seeing military men in their house when his father was still alive.

Reynaldo has no souvenirs of his Tatay. All he remembers is that his father was a good man. And that he was wronged.

“My only hope now is that my father’s name will be totally cleared,” he said after the documentary.