EDITORIAL - Elusive justice

The justice system during Corazon Aquino’s presidency failed to uncover the whole truth behind the assassination of her husband, Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. And before their only son was swept to the presidency by a landslide, all the soldiers still in prison for the murders of Aquino and Rolando Galman were pardoned and ordered freed by the Arroyo administration.

Cory Aquino did not keep secret her suspicion of who was behind her husband’s assassination. Until she died in 2009, however, the person who ordered the twin murders was never officially unmasked. And her family never got an answer to a question that has nagged them since Aug. 21, 1983: was Ninoy Aquino still breathing when he was tossed into a van, but beaten to death by those soldiers as he was driven around instead of being rushed to a hospital?

What happened inside that van was what Ninoy Aquino’s heirs wanted to hear from the members of the Aviation Security Group who spent two decades in prison for the twin murders. But the soldiers were freed without changing their version of events on that fateful day on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport. Like many of the others who participated in the crime and ensuing cover-up, they will carry their stories to the grave.

There will be no justice for the heirs of Ninoy Aquino. Every anniversary of his death should deepen the nation’s resolve to improve the criminal justice system and prevent the abuse of power. His death is an ugly reminder that in this country, people get away with the most brazen crimes. While the whole truth may never be known, the death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino should serve as a day for the nation to resolve to put an end to the use of murder as the ultimate political weapon.