Cardinal condemns assassination

CARDINAL Jaime Sin of Manila, capital of the Philippines, this week expressed great sorrow at the death of Philippine opposition leader, Mr Benign° Aquina, who was shot as he stepped out of an aeroplane on Sunday.
The Cardinal issued a statement which said: "If we allow his death to fan the flames of violence and division then he will have died in vain."
There is still uncertainty about the shooting of Mr Aquino, who had just returned to Manila after three years of self-imposed exile from the United States.
Police say that he was shot by a lone assassin who managed to penetrate the security cordon around the airport.
But police statements have been questioned by a journalist who claims that he saw soldiers firing at Mr Aquino. President Ferdinand Marcos, leader of ruling party in the Philippines and a Catholic, issued a statement condemning the assassination and expressing sorrow at Mr Aquino's death.
Mr Aquino, Mr Marcos's leading political opponent, was sentenced to death six years ago by a Philippine military tribunal for murder, subversion and illegal possession of firearms. He was returning to the country to renew his campaign against Mr Marcos.
• An American bishop who has recently been working in the Philippines to help improve relations between Catholics and Muslims in the country, has said in a recent interview that the Philippine bishops were sometimes at odds with President Marcos because the
Church was the only force that could challenge him.
Bishop George Dion, who has worked in the Philippines for many years, said in an interview earlier this month: "We don't want to get into politics. But we do have to tell the people what their rights 'are. We have to give a voice to the voiceless. We can't say, go ahead and torture them."
He added that tension over policies of the national government affected his area in Mindanao less than others because President Marcos had granted it a great deal of autonomy, and officials there were all Muslims.