History's infamous political assassinations —masterminds unknown

The recent assassination of Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, once again reminds us that until now, 40 years after the killing of Ninoy Aquino, the mastermind is still unknown. Small guys and small fish were arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned. But the mastermind remains a mystery and most probably, is still free. Why?

The more probable scenario is that the man behind governor Degamo's murder will also remain unaccounted for until 40 or 80 years from now. Welcome to the Philippines, the land of the most forgiving and forgetful people. The people and the government are one and the same, infected with "ningas cogon". We are outraged and are denouncing in the strongest terms the killing of good people. We raise our fists and cry for the blood of the assassins, we demand an eye for an eye. But only in the beginning, only at the wake and at the burial. But in no time at all, when the candlelight had died down, we moved on, fully recovered from the trauma. Then we forgive and forget. That is the Christian way, after all.

In fairness, this malady isn’t a monopoly of Filipinos. A number of American presidents and other statesmen were also assassinated. The gunmen were brought to justice but the masterminds remained unknown. The youngest American and the first Catholic ever elected US president, everyone's favorite, John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963 or 60 years ago. The mastermind is still unnamed. Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the greatest among all US presidents having kept the Union from splintering due to the Civil War, and also having emancipated the black Americans from slavery, was shot by John Wilkes Booth in 1865. Today, after 158 years, no one knows the brains behind that infamy. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the most famous human rights and civil rights crusader was shot by James Earl Ray in 1968. It has been 56 years now, and no one knows who ordered the execution.

James Garfield, the 20th US president was killed by Charles Guiteau in 1881 after only four months in office. William McKinley (our Fort Bonifacio used to be called Fort McKinley), the 25th US president, was the one who purchased the Philippines in 1898 from Spain. He was reelected in the presidential election in 1900. While he was touring in Buffalo, New York, an anarchist (old term for terrorist) Leon Czolgosz fired two shots at the president. He lived for one week, then died on September 14, 1901. Czolgosz was a labor leader who hated the rich and oppressive employers. He followed the daring assassination of Italy's King Umberto by another anarchist, Gaetano Bresci. Both masterminds of Garfield's and McKinley's assassinations are still unknown more than a century after their deaths.

India has had its own shares of unsolved assassinations too. The famous Mahatma Gandhi, at the height of his victory against tyranny, social injustice, and foreign domination, was killed on January 30, 1948 by a young fanatic, Nathuram Godse. It has been 75 years and no one could tell who the mastermind was. Indira Gandhi, the first female prime minister of India, elected for four terms, was murdered in 1984. She was the only child of the famous Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, after that country's liberation from Great Britain. Rajiv Gandhi, son of Indira, succeeded her as prime minister in 1984. He, too, was assassinated in 1991. His brother Sanjay was also killed in a mysterious plane in 1980. Today, 43 years after Sanjay's controversial death, 47 years after Indira was killed, and 32 years after Rajiv's extra-judicial killing, the masterminds are still unknown.

Political killings can easily be attributed to political rivals. These are the usual suspects and most probably they indeed had a hand in such gruesome and barbaric killings. But excellent police intelligence should consider other angles; business rivalries, land disputes, family feuds, and clan wars like what used to happen in Mindanao, and even love affairs and romantic entanglements with married women. For every assassination, there is always a mastermind who may have been motivated by hatred, revenge, jealousy or plain greed and insatiable hunger for power, money, or prestige.

As Mark Anthony bewailed in his eulogy for Julius Caesar: "Oh, judgment, thou art fled with brutish beast. Bear with me my heart is in the coffin, there with Caesar. And I shall pause till it comes back to me."