Fabian Ver

Fabian Crisologo Ver (born Fabian Maria Trinidad Juan Cirilo Crisologo Ver; January 20, 1920 – November 21, 1998) was a Filipino military officer who served as the Commanding Officer of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos.

Fabian Ver was born on January 20, 1920, to Juan Ver and Elena Crisologo. He grew up in the town of Sarrat in Ilocos Norte.

Ver attended the University of the Philippines and was an alumnus of its reserve program. He also joined the UP Vanguard in 1941. However, the outbreak of World War II disrupted his studies. After the war, he resumed his studies at the University of Manila where he obtained a Bachelor of Law degree and later the University of Louisville where he graduated with a degree in police administration in 1963. He also undertook training in Hawaii and with the Los Angeles Police Department.

During World War II, he acted as a guerrilla intelligence officer with the rank of third lieutenant and after the war, he went on in the military service. During 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, now the Philippine National Police, was at that time, a major service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines that dealt with law enforcement and peace and order in the country.

Ver was described by former Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile in his autobiography as 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. Ver then worked his way up through the military ranks.

Ver was the most trusted military officer of then President Ferdinand Marcos as Martial Law was declared on September 21, 1972, was also known as one of Marcos' chief enforcers, and was said to be the highest among the Rolex 12 group of people privy to the inner workings of Martial Law.

He became further fiercely loyal to Marcos, who rewarded him by appointing him as the commanding general of the Presidential Security Group, then known as the Presidential Security Command or PSC that was tasked to secure Marcos and his family. When he was due for retirement in 1976, Marcos extended his term indefinitely. He also headed the then National Intelligence and Security Authority or NISA (now the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency), the vast and well-armed and well-equipped intelligence department of the Philippines, sending government agents to search for anti-Marcos critics. It placed spies in all government and private entities. In effect, NISA acted as secret police force of the Marcos regime. And since NISA was under the direct control of the Office of the President, Ver directly reported to Marcos. And under the 1978 National Security Code, NISA also was given functional supervision and control over the Intelligence Service of the AFP or ISAFP, thus its chief also reported to Ver directly, thus widening his powers in the military gaining full suzerainty of the ISAFP to further NISA's functions. In a 1997 documentary, General Romeo Espino, former chief of staff of the AFP said Ver was a powerful man and who checked his recommendations for promotions and appointments before it reached Marcos. And, if Ver decided to release any political prisoner detained by NISA, it equalled that of Marcos as his signature was also considered as the latter's.