MANILA, Philippines -- A general and 15 soldiers were convicted Friday of killing Benigno Aquino, more than seven years after the opposition leader was gunned down as he came home to confront President Ferdinand Marcos.
An anti-corruption court convicted a general and 15 other soldiers in the 1983 assassination and sentenced them to life in prison on the first anniversary of Marcos's death during exile in Honolulu.
The three-judge court also acquitted 17 soldiers and three civilians, including former Tourism Secretary Jose Aspiras, in the murder of Aquino. The murder sparked widespread protests that helped topple 20- year dictator Marcos in a civilian-backed military revolt and swept Aquino's wife Corazon to power.
'I am pleased that finally the court has decided who are the guilty people and who are innocent,' President Corazon Aquino said in an interview with Japanese reporters.
But Benigno Aquino's sister, congresswoman Teresa Ureta, expressed disappointment.
'I would have wanted a statement clearer on who ordered the killing, ' said Ureta who sat in the courtroom audience with her brother, Sen. Agapito Aquino. 'Most of those convicted were soldiers. They could not have acted without somebody ordering them.'
No judgment was rendered on former armed forces chief Gen. Fabian Ver, former Information Minister Gregorio Cendana, and a captain. All three men are at large but were tried in absentia. Court chairman Regino Hermosisima indicated they could face a separate trial at a later date.
Another soldier in the list of 40 accused died during the trial.
The highest ranking officer convicted was Brig. Gen. Luther Custodio, the former chief of the aviation security command now stricken with cancer and confined to a wheelchair.
'It's unfair, it's unfair,' Custodio said as he was being wheeled out of the courtroom after the verdict. 'I know God knows I am innocent.'
Initially, the court imposed the death sentence on Custodio and 15 other soldiers, but then deferred to a constitutional ban on the death penalty and meted out the life prison sentence.
Among the others found guilty included constable Rogelio Moreno, who the court said fired the shot from a .357 Magnum that killed Aquino Aug. 21, 1983, at the Manila airport upon his return from three years of self-exile in the United States. Also among the convicted were Aquino's four other escorts.
Rodolfo Jimenez, counsel for theaccused, said he would appeal the convictions to the Supreme Court.
In its 177-page decision, the court rejected defense arguments Aquino was shot by Rolando Galman, an alleged communist hit man killed moments later in a volley of military gunfire. It adopted the prosecution stand Galman was a scapegoat, and all 16 convicted Friday were found guilty of murdering both Aquino and Galman.
A citizen fact-finding panel said in 1984 there was no evidence against the Marcoses. That panel found Aquino was killed by a soldier, but in 1985 a court overturned the finding and acquitted Ver, 24 other soldiers, and businessman Hermilo Gosuico.
After Corazon Aquino took power, a special Supreme Court panel reviewed the 1985 lower court decision and found Marcos had ordered a mass acquittal of the 26. The Supreme Court ordered a new trial that began March 23, 1987, and ended last June 4. The list of accused was expanded from 26 to 40.
Marcos was never charged in the case, but many Filipinos believed he and his wife Imelda were involved. Benigno Aquino had hurried home at that time to warn Marcos to allow democracy or face a civil war.
'I think at this point justice has been done,' presidential deputy press secretary Horacio Paredes said after Friday's conviction. 'I think it will be long before we will know the mastermind, but to me I think the mastermind has died one year ago.'
