The World - News from March 9, 1988

A former Philippine army investigator who probed the 1983 assassination of Benigno S. Aquino Jr. told a Manila court that his group was ordered to rig its findings. Pedro Aquino, no relation to the slain politician, gave his testimony at the trial of 40 soldiers and former officials charged in the murder of the husband of the current president, Corazon Aquino. He told the court that he was under orders to help cover up a military role in the killing of Aquino, a popular opposition leader and chief rival of then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The former investigator also testified that a soldier admitted four years ago to being the triggerman but that the confession was suppressed.