PRESS STATEMENT FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF SENATOR BENIGNO "NOYNOY" S. AQUINO III

This is to refute the malicious allegations raised in an article entitled "Noynoy's Dark Secret" written by Alfred Dalizon and published in the October 26, 2009 edition of the People's Journal.
This is an old story and it is unfortunate that Mr. Dalizon's article got the facts completely wrong. A certain "Charlotte Marie Datiles" indeed died during the August 28, 1987 coup d'etat. She was not the girlfriend of Senator Benigno "Noynoy" S. Aquino III nor was she in the same car as the senator.
According to Ramon Tulfo in his September 9, 1987 column "On Target" that appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, she was the 19-year-old girlfriend of a certain Lt. Teodoro Sanchez, an undercover operative of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Tulfo wrote: "Sanchez and Datiles and another ISAFP agent were passing by Malacañang aboard a car during the attack on the palace. They came from a mission following up a lead in the slaying of Local Government Secretary Jaime Ferrer. Sanchez’s car was sandwiched between the Palace guards and the rebels firing at each other."
A copy of the said article is attached. While we all expect evil propaganda of this nature to continue as the election nears, we have no doubt that truth will prevail in the end. We must not be distracted in the campaign to fight for what is right. The Filipino people deserve nothing less. Our call remains: "Tanggalin ang tiwali, itama ang mali!"

Sincerely,

Florencio "Butch" Abad
Campaign Manager


On Target by Mon Tulfo
"Palace Guards shot Noynoy?"
September 9, 1987

There's a new twist to the ambush of presidential son Noynoy Aquino and his bodyguards outside the Malacañang gates in the early morning of Aug. 28.

Our sources in the intelligence community say some members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG), not rebel soldiers, fired on Noynoy and his bodyguard. It was either a mistake encouner or a deliberate act.

If it was the latter case, then renegade Col. Gringo Honasan is telling the truth about some PSG elements. Honasan, in a taped message aired over dzRH radio, said many PSG members empathized with the rebels' cause.

* * *
On the other hand, if PSG soldiers mistook Noynoy andhis bodyguards for enemies, then something's wrong with the security setup at the Palace. It was like a trained dog biting its master, which it mistook for a burglar.

* * *
We give credence to the claim that PSG soldiers fired on Noynoy and his party.

Remember Noynoy's conference with newsmen the day after he survived the ambush?

In that news conference, Noynoy said he saw soldiers positioned on the street bend near the St. Jude's church, a stone's throw away from Gate 4 of Malacañang.

And take note of his succeeding statement: The soldiers were ..ing prone in an ambush position on both sides of the road facing Sta. Mesa rotunda instead of the Palace.

* * *
The rebels came from Sta. Mesa rotunda or were in Sta. Mesa rotunda when they attacked Malacañang.

Following Noynoy's statement that the soldiers he saw were facing Sta. Mesa rotunda instead of Malacañang, then the soldiers who shot him and his bodyguards were Palace guards.

If they were rebel soldiers, they would naturally have been facing Malacañang because that was the object of their attack.

* * *
Lt. Teodoro Sanchez, an undercover operative of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces (ISAFP), and his girlfriend Charlotte Marie Datiles, a 19-year-old Maryknoll student, were at the wrong place at the wrong time Aug. 28.

Sanchez and Datiles and another ISAFP agent were passing by Malacañang aboard a car during the attack on the Palace. They came from a mission following up a lead in the slaying of Local Government Jaime Ferrer.

Sanchez's car was sandwiched between the Palace guards and the rebels firing at each other.

Datiles died on the spot. Sanchez is still fighting for his life.