Philippines Govt lied —witness

Press, 27 February 1984, Page 10

Philippines Govt lied —witness

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo A Japanese journalist said on Saturday he had told Philippines investigators that a Government policeman, and not a hired gunman, had slain Senator Benigno Aquino. The Philippines military’s claim that Rolando Galman was the killer was a “downright lie,” Kiyoshi Wakamiya said. Wakamiya was on the plane that had brought the Opposition leader from the United States to Manila last August. Senator Aquino was gunned down as he stepped off the plane. Wakamiya said he had told an investigative commission from the Philippines in Tokyo on Wednesday that he believed Senator Aquino was shot by one of the security guards escorting him from the plane, but that he could not identify the killer.

A Philippines military commander has denied that he played any role in the killing of the Opposition leader, Senator Benigno Aquino at Manila Airport last August. General Luther Custodio was quoted yesterday by two Manila newspapers as saying that a statement in Washington by a former Philippines military agent that General Custodio had

asked him to kill Mr Aquino was a “brazen lie” and a “calculated fabrication.” Mr Jose Fronda Santos, who said he had been a member of a military death squad, said in a sworn affidavit four days ago in Washington that General Custodio had asked him in 1982 and 1983 to kill Senator Aquino without embarrassing President Ferdinand Marcos.