Another soldier in Aquino-Galman double-murder dies

MANILA, Philippines - Another ex-soldier convicted for the double murders of former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. and Rolando Galman in 1983 has died after suffering a stroke, the Public Attorney’s Office said Saturday. PAO chief Persida Acosta said former Sgt. Rolando de Guzman, 57, died of heart attack last Wednesday at the East Avenue Medical Center. Acosta said De Guzman suffered from severe hypertension and stroke six times. “Oo, apat na [stroke] 'yun sa loob, dalawa sa labas [Yes, he suffered four strokes inside prison, two outside]," Acosta told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. She said De Guzman’s remains are currently being kept at his family’s residence in Brgy. 604, Zone 60 in Sta. Mesa, Manila. His body will be soon brought to his home province of Pangasinan, she added. De Guzman was among 16 suspects convicted in the killing of Aquino and Galman – which a court declared on September 28, 1990 as a “murder conspiracy." No mastermind, however, was named. Until his last breath, the former soldier maintained that he was innocent on the murder charges. Last February, de Guzman and fellow former soldier Felizardo Taran walked free from the national penitentiary after serving the maximum term sentence of 34 years. [See: 2 ex-soldiers convicted in Aquino-Galman murders freed] Last March, the 10 remaining convicts of the Aquino-Galman double murder case were also released from prison. [See: - GMANews.TV