Word: agrava
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Dates: during 1984-1984
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...board had confounded widespread skepticism by daring to challenge the powerful Philippine military Establishment. Still, the failure of the panel to reach unanimous agreement in the majority report's conclusions-especially regarding Ver's possible involvement-inevitably disappointed many Filipinos. Indeed, the sharpest disagreement between Chairman Agrava and her colleagues came in their assessments of the evidence that the Chief of Staff was involved in the murders...
...report, Agrava implicated seven military men, including Brigadier General Luther Custodio, who was in charge of the 1,199-member security force deployed to protect Aquino at the airport. In the 457-page majority report, supported by a 481-page memorandum prepared by the board's legal panel and leaked to the press two weeks earlier, the other four board members went much further than Agrava. By naming Ver, they in effect struck at the very heart of the Marcos regime. The majority report named, in addition to the seven suspects mentioned by Agrava, 18 other military men, among...
Faced with one of the gravest challenges in his 19-year rule, Marcos, ever the adroit tactician, moved quickly to cut his losses. He began by treating Agrava's minority report as if it were the only finding of the board and promptly turned the milder version over to the Ministry of Justice. Then, seizing the moment between the announcements of the two reports, Marcos appeared on television to address the country. He urged that the case be settled "without letting a day pass." Already the seven men implicated by Agrava had, he explained, been suspended from duty...
...campaign of intimidation and pressure that during the past year has so heightened tensions, endangered so many lives and besmirched the very reputation of our republic." The following day, the President also handed the explosive majority report over to the Ministry of Justice and authorized the members of the Agrava panel to assist in prosecuting the case. Then Marcos accepted letters from Olivas and Ver requesting permission to take a temporary "leave of absence...
Soon after seeing Chairman Agrava's minority report, First Lady Imelda Marcos apparently remarked, "Poor nation. I cry for the nation. The nation is beautiful." That paradoxical lament seemed a perfect summary for the anguishing morality play that had just concluded for most Filipinos. Had justice in the Aquino case finally been served? Yes and no. The Agrava board showed itself to be unswerving, but much of its hard work could yet be overturned in the courts. Could the opposition claim a triumph? In part. It had managed to force the temporary departure of Ver, but the general...