1.
GV INTERIOR Inquiry commission members enter room.
0.14

2.
SV Guilermo Santos, commission member and others, seated.
0.22

3.
SV Member Felix Antonio speaks. Crowd applauds. (SOT) (2 SHOTS)
0.56

4.
SV Members depart. (2 SHOTS)
1.07


ANTONIO: (SEQ 3) "In view of this development, the present members of the commission want to given a supplementary inquiry a free hand in the organisation or the reorganisation of the commission. It is for this reason that this morning we submitted to the president of the Philippines our letters of resignation."





Initials RAN/JRS





Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The five remaining members of the commission of inquiry into the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino last month, resigned en masse in Manila on October 10. In their letter to President Ferdinand Marcos, the members said the committee lacked sufficient public credibility. Reuters reported the resignations raised fresh opposition hopes of a new and more searching inquiry into the shooting of Aquino at the city's airport, as he arrived from three year's exile in the United States. The letter of resignation said the members supported a call by a prominent member of the Philippines parliament, Arturo Tolentino, for a new, more credible, inquiry to remove doubts about the impartiality of the commission. Committee member Felix Antonio added that they hoped their departure would leave the new commission with freedom to operate as it wished. Opposition member Filemon Fernandez resigned with the others to make way for the new commission. Chief Justice Enrique Fernando resigned as commission chairman on September 30.