The nation marks the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr. today while waiting for accountability in the corruption scandal that has erupted over flood control projects and the crafting of the national budget.
Even after Ninoy Aquino’s widow Corazon and later their only son Noynoy served as president, the nation still failed to find out who ordered the assassination of the leading opponent of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.
Only the 16 members of the Aviation Security Command who met Ninoy Aquino as his plane landed at what at the time was called the Manila International Airport were convicted and served their life sentence at the New Bilibid Prison.
One was granted conditional pardon in 2007. Three died while in prison, including the highest-ranking officer convicted, Avsecom chief Brig. Gen. Luther Custodio. The rest had their sentences commuted or were released through executive clemency granted by then president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2009.
Noynoy Aquino had publicly opposed the clemency, pointing out that two crimes were actually committed: the killing itself – of his father and alleged assassin Rolando Galman – and a conspiracy to cover up the truth, with not only the 16 complicit, but also others who could have identified the mastermind.
Suspicion always focused on powerful personalities in the first Marcos regime, but the reopening of the case hit a blank wall when it came to pinning down who ordered the hit.
The failure to hold the brains accountable for what at the time was described as the crime of the century surely encouraged more political assassinations even after democracy was restored through the 1986 people power revolt.
Many of the assassinations are unsolved, encouraging further attacks.
The same goes for corruption. Seeing the biggest crooks and human rights violators from the Marcos dictatorship getting away with murder and large-scale looting of public coffers surely contributed to the current plundered state of the nation.
Instead of accountability, we have impunity.