Word: balanger
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Dates: during 1984-1984
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...events that brought Balang to the dramatic impromptu hearing had been both circuitous and frightening. On Dec. 27, he was given a hand-carried letter asking him to report for questioning at the Criminal Investigation Service (CIS). Balang refused. Then, remarkably, the armed bearer of the letter, who claimed to be a CIS officer, offered to take him to see Marcos himself. Again, Balang said no. That night another messenger arrived, saying that a Colonel Diego of the Presidential Security Command wanted...
...frightened Balang sought refuge for the night at the home of his attorneys. Balang's alarm was understandable. His name had been left off the airline assignment sheet the day of the killing, and thus had not appeared on official witness lists for the investigation. Moreover, he felt conscience-bound to challenge the government's version of the murder. His lawyers, after taping his version of the shooting, set up the private commission hearing the following...
...Balang's appearance before the Agrava commission was a blow to the government. Agrava confirmed that Balang's house had been staked out by people calling themselves CIS agents, and, in an act of considerable courage, she arranged protection for the witness. In his testimony, Balang questioned that Galman could have pulled the trigger. "I heard a shot, and when I looked back, the man in white [Aquino] was falling down," Balang recounted. "At that moment, I saw [Galman] just standing there parallel to Aquino, surrounded by members of the Aviation Security Command (AVSECOM). He was smiling...
...Balang's decision to speak out was prompted, in part, by a statement four days earlier by Reuben Regalado, 25, also a mechanic at Philippine Airlines. In a television interview in Tokyo, Regalado claimed that he had seen Galman stand ing with a group of soldiers near one of two AVSECOM vehicles. Regalado said he had an unimpeded view of the stairway as Aquino debarked, flanked by two AVSECOM escorts. Regalado could recall no one directly beneath the plane's fuse lage or under the stairway...
...separate - and slightly differing - accounts of Balang and Regalado departed dramatically from the official description. According to both versions, Galman never got within pointblank range behind Aquino as military wit nesses had claimed. Moreover, Galman had not been pushed off balance by one of Aquino's escorts and then shot - rather, he "was knocked down by a bullet as he held a gun with two hands over his head." Though the TV report was not aired in the Philippines, and is not admissible as official testimony, it received coverage in Manila newspapers. Lawyers acting on behalf of the AVSECOM...