Arroyo orders extradition of missing link in Ninoy murder

MANILA, Philippines – President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had ordered Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez to search for - and work for the possible extradition of - the reported “missing link" in the Aquino-Galman double murder case, a Malacañang official said Sunday. Interviewed over government-run dzRB radio, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said that the Aquino-Galman double murder case would be reopened once former Air Force Capt. Felipe Valerio had been tracked down and extradited to the Philippines. "Secretary Raul Gonzalez... he has been instructed by the President to initiate moves to try and locate Valerio and if he [Valerio] will be located, for him to be extradited back to the Philippines," Remonde said. Remonde added that the Aquino-Galman case would be reopened only if new evidence could be presented by Valerio. "It is important that Valerio can be extradited back in the Philippines so that he can introduce new evidence and it is only when there is this new evidence… that there are valid grounds to reopen the case," he said. Public Attorney’s Office head Persida Acosta was quoted in a newspaper as saying that the mastermind in the Aug. 21, 1983, murder of former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr. and his purported assassin Rolando Galman could be unmasked once the case had been revived. "There will be no closure until Valerio is found," Acosta said. Escorts Valerio was believed to have flown to the US after the Marcos regime was toppled in 1986 and was reportedly working as an airlines pilot using the names Edwin Salvador or Philip Valeo. Valerio was group commander of 805th Special Operations Squadron of the Aviation Security Command (Avsecom). Avsecom members escorted Aquino out of an airplane at what was then the Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport) before he was shot. Sixteen Avsecom soldiers, excluding Valerio, were convicted for double murder in September 1990. The last 10 convicts remaining at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City were granted freedom last week by virtue of an executive clemency granted by President Arroyo. Pardon The search for Valerio was renewed after President Arroyo granted clemency to 10 soldiers convicted for the Aquino-Galman case last March 2. The release of the 10 was made a month after other Aquino-Galman convicts Sgt. Rolando de Guzman and Airman 1st Class Felizardo Taran completed their sentences. Another convict, Master Sgt. Pablo Martinez, was pardoned and released on Nov. 22, 2007 at the age of 70. Three other convicts, Gen. Luther Custodio and Sgts. Cordova Estelo and Mario Lazaga died while still in prison. The pardon however did not sit well with the Aquino family. Aquino's youngest child, television personality Kristina Bernadette "Kris" Aquino, branded it as an "insult" to her father's memory. The slain senator’s widow, former President Corazon Aquino, had become a critic of the Arroyo administration since the "Hello, Garci" scandal broke out in 2005. Ministerial In the dzRB interview, Remonde reiterated that the commutation of sentence of the 10 soldiers was not politically motivated, stressing that it went through the regular process. "Talagang ministerial lang po ang role ng ating Pangulo doon because iyun po ay dumaan sa proseso ng Board of Pardons and Parole under the Department of Justice and if it's under the law and the Constitution, ministerial lang po ang role ni Pangulo. So wala po talagang pamulitika sa pangyayaring iyun," he said. ["The President's role in that was purely ministerial. It underwent the normal process. There was no politics behind it."] Remonde said that under the law, a convict would be eligible for pardon and parole after serving a portion of his sentence. In the soldiers’ case, he said they had been imprisoned for 26 years. - GMANews.TV