Air Force records ‘doctored’
NZPA-Reuter Manila The Philippines Air Force chief said yesterday that United States Air Force records were doctored to show that Filipino officers tried to divert the airliner bringing Benigno Aquino to Manila, said Government television. The Air Force chief, Vicente Piccio, did not specify who tampered with the logbooks, it said, but it quoted him as saying the entry
made a routine operation look like an attempt to intercept Aquino’s airliner. The records were given by the United State Embassy to Philippines officials seeking information on an alleged attempt to divert the plane bringing Aquino home from exile in the United States two years ago. He was shot on the Manila Airport tarmac. The “San Francisco Examiner,” quoting United States servicemen, said last
month that the Philippines Air Force scrambled jets to try to force Aquino’s China Airlines flight from Taipei to land at Basa Air Base, (55km) north-east of Manila. It said Philippines officers took over from United States Air Force radar trackers, asking the Americans to leave the room at two military traffic control centres while Filipino officers tracked two fighters sent to divert Aquino’s flight.
The military said Aquino was killed by a communist agent, Rolando Galman, who was himself shot by guards. An official inquiry concluded that the murder was a military plot with Galman used as a decoy to hide the real killer. The then Armed Forces chief, Fabian Ver, 24 other soldiers and a civilian are on trial in connection with the deaths of Aquino and Galman.
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Press, 7 August 1985, Page 10
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257Air Force records ‘doctored’ Press, 7 August 1985, Page 10
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