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Ver then told the commission he was at his office on the grounds of the presidential palace, six miles from the airport, when Custodio informed him that Aquino had been killed by an unknown assailant. Ver said he quickly broke the news to Marcos. "The President was shocked," he reported. "He expressed a feeling of disbelief for this tragic incident." Under questioning, Ver denied he had informed Marcos that the killer was a Communist. Yet Marcos made just that assertion the next day in a television address.
Ver's testimony left some questions unanswered. How could he claim that Aquino faced a death sentence, when the matter was still under appeal? How could military officials not have known which plane Aquino would be on? How could the nation's top military officer be so astonishingly ill informed about the entire affair? The Philippine public, which after five months of testimony before the commission has grown increasingly skeptical of government witnesses, will have another chance to hear this one. Ver is scheduled to return to the stand this week.