Fabian Ver Fabian C . Ver ( January 20 , 1920 – November 21 , 1998 ) was a General and Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos . It is suspected he was the mastermind of assassination of former Senator Benigno Aquino , Jr . Military and political career . Ver was born in Sarrat , Ilocos Norte on 1920 . During World War II , he acted as a guerrilla intelligence officer and after the war , he went on in the military service . During then Senator Ferdinand Marcos ' term as Senate President in the early 1960s , he was one of his military advisers . He was at that time serving in the Criminal Investigation Service of the Philippine Constabulary with the rank of Captain . The Philippine Constabulary was a that time , a major service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that deals with law enforcement and peace and order in the country . It is now at present , the Philippine National Police . According to the autobiography book of now Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile entitled , " Juan Ponce Enrile : A Memoir " , Ver was a man of Marcos through and through . He could not and would not say no to Marcos and would blindly carry out the wishes and orders of Marcos without question . Thus , he became the most loyal officer to Marcos and upon the latter ' s election as President of the Philippines in 1965 , he became part of the latter ' s inner circle . And , Ver worked his way up through the military ranks . He was most trusted military officer of then President Ferdinand Marcos as Martial Law was declared on September 21 , 1972 . and he was also known as Marcos ' chief enforcer , and was the highest among the Rolex 12 . However , there are reports to opposed to the veracity of such information . He became further fiercely loyal to Marcos , and Marcos repaid his loyalty by appointing him as the head of the Presidential Security Group , then known as the Presidential Security Command . When he was due for retirement in 1976 , Marcos extended his term indefinitely . He also headed the then National Intelligence and Security Authority ( now , the National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency ) , the spy department of the Philippines , sending government agents to search for anti - Marcos critics . In effect , NISA acts as secret police force of the Marcos regime . Ver would be a feared figure during the martial law years , as he was known to take no prisoners and would resort to torture when needed . Martial law was lifted in 1981 , and Ver was appointed as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines over a cousin , then Major - General Fidel Valdez Ramos , then the chief of the Philippine Constabulary . Thus , Ver became the most powerful officer in the military , as he headed now three institutions : the AFP , the PSC and NISA . Police officials , military men , businessmen , politicians , bureaucrats and other prominent figures like judges kowtowed to him . Many feared to displease him as he has direct access to Marcos and has his ear as well as of then First Lady Imelda Marcos . In fact , his three sons , who are all military officers like him were in the zenith of power . His eldest son , Irwin was rapidly promoted to colonel and named chief of staff of the Presidential Security Command . His other son , Rexor was the chief of the close - in security of Marcos and youngest son , Wyrlo , was the commander of the Armored Unit of Malacanang Palace . Irwin Ver graduated no . 1 in the Philippine Military Academy in 1970 . During Ver ' s term as AFP chief of staff , he was biased in favor of the military officers that came from ROTC program by giving them incentives and named them to key important posts in the military , thus , this made the military officers who graduated from the Philippine Military Academy resentful . He also extended schooling privileges to his relatives , friends in the military especially the graduates of professional military schools that are close to him , to Marcos and to Imelda , including those who paid homage to him and filled the high posts in the military with Ilocano ROTC - trained military officers . This was the era of favoritism in the AFP . Gen . Romeo Espino , Ver ' s predecessor , was AFP Chief of Staff for the longest term in the Philippines military . He was a ROTC graduate in the University of the Philippines . He also instituted , along with Marcos the extension of services in the military of those military officers who overreached their retirement age . As Marcos disregarded the authority of then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile in the 1980s , he changed the military chain of command . Under the new chain of command , the authority would evolve from Marcos as president and commander - in - chief of the armed forces up to Ver , the chief of staff of the armed forces . Thus , Ver increasingly became the second most powerful government official in the country , replacing Enrile who held the status since the imposition of Martial Law on 1972 when Marcos named him as martial law administrator . Ver and Enrile would be often at odds with each other . Ver and Ramos , would be often at odds with each other and Ver would attempt to cripple Ramos for he was his rival then for the leadership of the Armed Forces . And , a column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on 2013 to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution , describes Ver as a no - mercy person when it comes to purging the military of officers opposing Marcos and his regime . Crisis . Ver kept aging officers loyal to himself and also to Marcos on the armed forces , thus making young officers disgruntled . The Reform the Armed Forces Movement ( RAM ) was formed by these young officers , led by then Colonel Gregorio Honasan as a result of this . The RAMboys , as they were known in the Philippines , played a key role in Marcos ' overthrow . As the Marcos regime grew unpopular during these years , Marcos would be in and out of office due to kidney ailments . Political mismanagement would ensue , culminating with the 1983 assassination of popular oppositionist Senator Benigno Aquino , Jr . upon his return from exile in the United States . The Agrava Commission , an independent fact - finding body put up by Ferdinand Marcos found evidence to verify that the military and Ver were involved , but he was subsequently acquitted in 1985 by Marcos . After the tumultuous snap elections on February 7 , Marcos announced that he was replacing Ver with Fidel Ramos due to his alleged ties with the Aquino assassination although he tacitly kept Ver in power . Later life . After the tumultuous snap elections of 1986 , the EDSA Revolution would come . Ver advised Marcos to give him orders to fire on the swelling number of protesters , but Marcos stubbornly refused to and dismissed him with a salute . This led to the end of the Marcos regime . Ver would not be heard of for a while in spite of allegations against him by the government . In November 1998 , it was revealed that he was terminally ill from emphysema and ailing in Bangkok . He died on November 21 and his remains were brought back to the Philippines . He was buried in his hometown of Sarrat , Ilocos Norte .