The failed coup attempt in the Philippines sought to overthrow President Corazon Aquino's government. Led by Colonel Gregorio Honasan, 800 Philippine army troops launched surprise attacks on Malacanang Palace and other areas of Manila in the early morning hours. While the President and her supporters prevailed in repelling the attacks, her son was seriously wounded in the violence that left at least 20 people dead. The coup underscored the deep dissatisfaction within the military over conditions and Aquino's handling of issues like land reform and the Communist insurgency, threatening the stability of the country's young democracy.

1. The Philippines The Coup That
Failed
By Howard G. Chua-Eoan and Edward W. Desmond Sunday, June 24, 2001
From TIME Magazine
Swiftly, silently, 16 trucks and buses rolled into Manila under the cover of a moonless tropical night.
The curious convoy carried an estimated 800 Philippine army troops, all loaded down with weapons.
According to a carefully laid plan, the vehicles split up and, as midnight approached, drove to
assigned points around the city. Two of the trucks proceeded to a key location: Malacanang Palace,
the headquarters of President Corazon Aquino, 54. Asleep in her residence about 50 yds. away from
the main building, Aquino did not hear their approach.
Shortly after 1 a.m., a woman sitting in a snack bar near the palace saw about 50 soldiers wearing
black ski masks run past. Moments later the night was shattered by automatic-weapons fire and the
blast of mortars and grenades. Those unexpected sounds of combat signaled the beginning last
Thursday night of the bloodiest, most dangerous coup attempt yet mounted against Aquino's 18-
month-old government.
Since coming to power in early 1986, Aquino has survived five coups and rumors of countless others.
She has endured confrontations with the left and the right, with Communist rebels and prickly
colonels. She has moved too quickly for some Filipinos, too slowly for others, as she tries to undo two
decades of corrupt rule by her predecessor, Ferdinand Marcos. But along the way she has captured
the imagination of both her country and the world with her gentle words and indomitable spirit.
Suddenly, a band of soldiers came closer than ever to destroying Cory Aquino and the country's
budding democracy. To many observers, the violent raid on Malacanang by military rightists had all
the marks of a last, desperate grab at power. But even if Aquino is not seriously weakened by last
week's events, the foiled coup underscored the unwillingness of at least some Filipinos to give their
President the time she needs to carry out her reforms. Once the gunfire died down and the smoke
cleared, a troublesome question remained: Is the Philippines truly ready for democracy, or is it
destined to slip once again into chaos?
Stealing through Manila's darkened streets, the mutinous troops apparently hoped to catch the night
watch of the presidential security guard by surprise. But at Nagtahan Bridge, just 300 yds. from the

2. palace, and along J.P. Laurel Street nearby, the mutineers were stopped by heavy fire from the
defenders. As the fighting raged and red tracer bullets arced through the night sky, civilians and
journalists who turned out to see what was going on suddenly found themselves in a murderous
cross fire. "They just sprayed us with bullets," said Ricardo Medina, 20. "I saw with my own eyes at
least four dead on the street, with bits and pieces of brains scattered on the cement."
The rebels kept up the assault for more than an hour before pulling back into the commercial district
surrounding the palace. Some of the defenders took up pursuit, and sporadic gunfire continued for
hours. By nightfall Friday, the government estimated that at least 20 people had died, including a
photographer and a reporter, but there was widespread speculation that the toll was much higher. As
many as 265 people were wounded. The President was unharmed, and the rebels reportedly never
got close to her house, but her only son Benigno ("Noynoy"), 27, was seriously wounded. Caught in
his car with four bodyguards during the shooting, the young Aquino was saved from death by a
companion who threw himself across Noynoy's body. Three of the four guards were killed. Aquino
was hit in the shoulder and neck, but is expected to survive.
At 4:30 a.m. the President telephoned DRZH, a private Manila radio station, to deliver a live
broadcast to the nation. Sounding somewhat shaken, she said, "I want to tell you, all my countrymen,
I am safe and the presidential security group is here and prepared. It's all right here, but it's a little
noisy. Since it's still dark, I would advise ((people)) to stay put." General Fidel Ramos, Chief of the
Armed Forces and a loyal backer of Aquino, also went on the air. Reassuring listeners that the
situation would soon be under control, he said, "I support President Aquino and her government,
and so does the rest of the armed forces of the Philippines."
By dawn the issue was far from decided. Mutinous units took hold of regional commands in several
areas outside the capital, including Cebu, the country's second largest metropolitan area. In the
Manila suburb of Quezon City, a fierce fire fight raged around the government communications
center, home of television Channel 4. Rebels also managed to seize part of Villamor Air Base,
adjoining Manila International Airport, trapping General Antonio Sotelo, the air force commander,
in his office. A contingent of 300 men talked their way into Manila's Camp Aguinaldo, headquarters
of the national defense forces and the general staff. Only late on Friday did progovernment forces
succeed in routing the rebels.
A principal figure behind the plot was Colonel Gregorio ("Gringo") Honasan, 39, a heavily decorated
officer associated with at least one previous coup attempt. He apparently organized the scheme from

3. his post at Fort Magsaysay, 70 miles north of Manila. As Honasan led his followers into Camp
Aguinaldo, he told reporters that the operation "was not a coup" but was aimed at "unification of the
people, the concept of justice and true freedom." Expressing a sentiment common in the military
these days, he added, "We've been blamed and ignored so much. It's time to hear the voice of your
soldiers."
Honasan is a founder of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), a group of officers intent
on rebuilding the army's image and capability, and was security chief for Senator Juan Ponce Enrile,
63, during much of Enrile's 15 years at the head of the Philippines' defense establishment. Aquino
fired Enrile last November for allegedly conspiring to overthrow her. Late last week, after briefly
dropping from sight, Enrile resurfaced in Manila and declared, "I had nothing to do with it."
Although it may have seemed unlikely, there was suspicion that former President Ferdinand Marcos,
69, now living in Hawaii, had a hand in the plot. In July U.S. officials revealed they had squelched a
Marcos plan to buy an estimated $25 million in weapons for a coup attempt. Marcos said of last
week's affair, "We are not involved," though he added that he hoped Aquino was toppled and he
would gladly accept an invitation to return. No such request came from the rebels.
The midnight coup was not the first event to disturb Aquino's sleep last week. Two days earlier the
President provoked a general strike by leftist and conservative trade unions, angry over a recently
announced hike in gasoline prices, from $1.24 to $1.49 per gal. In a country where the average
annual income is barely $600 a year, the increase was stunning. Though Aquino finally declared a
partial rollback of the hike, thousands of Filipinos walked off their jobs and out of their classrooms in
the largest show of protest since Aquino assumed the presidency. After the strike went into a second
day, the military cracked down, arresting more than 120 labor activists. Several union leaders have
been charged with sedition. Others have gone into hiding.
The President's public support has been further eroded by her proposed land- reform measures,
currently being debated in the legislature. The plans would redistribute an unspecified amount of
acreage among the country's 8 million landless peasants. Landowners have vowed not to relinquish
their farms, and peasant organizations say the measures are vague and likely to be watered down by
the legislature, which includes many landowners.
The President has, of course, had her share of successes. In a referendum last February, her
democratic constitution was approved by 76% of the voters. Her candidates swept legislative

4. elections last May. Economic growth for the first quarter of 1987 was a healthy 5.5%, after two years
of recession under Marcos. The stock market is soaring, and foreigners are again investing in the
country.
But such attainments are threatened by the government's precarious military situation. The
Communist New People's Army now claims to have 24,000 guerrilla fighters, and its assassination
squads, known as Sparrow units, have moved freely through the capital, killing an estimated 25
policemen in the metropolitan area so far this year.
Aquino's reluctance to unleash the military against the Communist insurgents has generated deep
resentment among many professional officers. The malcontents feel that Aquino is more interested
in negotiating with the guerrillas than in defeating them. Most recently she annoyed the military by
extending a rebel amnesty program by six months. Many soldiers fear that the Communist
insurgency and Aquino's dithering over such matters as land reform and gasoline prices are pushing
the country to the brink of anarchy.
Enlisted men and officers are also disgruntled with low wages and severe shortages of the most basic
supplies. Those conditions, combined with Honasan's charismatic personality, no doubt fueled last
week's coup attempt. Some of the colonel's confederates say Honasan did not plan to overthrow the
popular Aquino but had only wanted to force the resignation of Ramos and improve the military's
lot. But Captain Rex Robles, a close friend of Honasan's, believes the main target was the President.
Said Robles: "If you bring Ramos down, then who is Cory?"
The first of the failed coup attempts was mounted in July 1986. Pro-Marcos military officers took
over the Manila Hotel for two days and declared Arturo Tolentino, Marcos' vice-presidential running
mate in 1986, to be President. In November Ramos announced that he had blocked a coup attempt
by Enrile and his backers, including Honasan. In January pro-Marcos troops moved again, holding a
radio station in suburban Manila for 61 hours before surrendering. In July four officers linked to
Marcos were arrested in connection with another plot.
None of the previous coup attempts could match the ferocity or human toll of last week's rising. In a
televised speech on Friday afternoon, Aquino declared, "I have ordered the Chief of Staff of the
armed forces to terminate this mutiny as soon as possible. There will be no terms. I have nothing to
say to these traitors . . . This morning my only son Noynoy was shot and wounded. I will not allow

5. these people to bring back the cruelty of the past dictatorship." The President referred to the rebels,
with uncharacteristic acerbity, as "monsters."
As Aquino and Ramos took stock of the situation the morning after the shooting started, they had
reason for concern. During the night Honasan had led 300 of his supporters into Camp Aguinaldo
after persuading guards to let them pass rather than face a fire fight. His offices occupied, General
Ramos moved his operations across the street to Camp Crame, headquarters of the Philippine
Constabulary. In the morning and early afternoon, small units of progovernment troops tried to
enter Camp Aguinaldo, only to be met by heavy fire from rebel troops, many with Philippine flags
stitched upside down on their chests as a sign of identification.
During the day about 7,000 curiosity seekers gathered outside Camp Aguinaldo in the hot sun to
watch the skirmishes, while hawkers selling peanuts and cigarettes worked the crowd. Late in the
afternoon, armored personnel carriers began advancing down the boulevard toward the camp, firing
shells at the rebel-held buildings and sending the civilians scurrying for + cover. The crowd was
rooting for the government forces, and a cheer went up when the troop carriers moved cautiously
through Camp Aguinaldo's front gate. The cheering stopped when an errant shell exploded in the
middle of a small crowd. The limp bodies of two civilians were hastily dragged away.
Firing continued sporadically until two vintage World War II fighter- bombers suddenly appeared in
the sky overhead and dived toward the three- story headquarters building where Honasan and his
supporters were holed up. In three runs the planes dropped at least ten bombs, returning to strafe
the area. Swirls of thick black smoke rose from the largely demolished structure. When she heard of
the bombing, the wife of one mutinous officer inside the camp grew hysterical. "My husband is ready
to die," she said. "That's how committed they are. They are ready to die for their cause."
Honasan evidently did not share that view: he escaped from the sprawling campgrounds by
helicopter. He is believed to be hiding in Manila with twelve staunch RAM members, and may take to
urban terrorism. Honasan, said Robles last week, "would rather reduce the country to rubble now
and see it rise again than watch its current slow death."
Shortly after Honasan's flight, some 350 of his followers surrendered to government troops. That
night Ramos said that five rebels had been killed and two wounded at Camp Aguinaldo, while the
loyalist side had lost four, with 24 wounded. He also said that "mopping-up operations" were under
way and called on Honasan to surrender.

6. Progovernment forces also prevailed after a day of sporadic fighting at the government
communications installation in Quezon City and several private television stations nearby. Fighting
raged for nearly six hours as rebels tried to climb over a 10-ft.-high wall and into the Channel 4
complex, but Aquino's men withstood the siege. At 7:30 a.m. the rebels broke off their attack, and
hundreds of civilians converged on the facility, cheering and waving Philippine flags. By late in the
week most other pockets of resistance were yielding to government pressure. Honasan's followers at
Camp Olivas, 35 miles north of Manila, surrendered. At Villamor Air Base, rebels gave up control of
air force headquarters.
In Cebu, 350 miles southeast of Manila, troops commanded by Brigadier General Edgardo Abenina
flew the Philippine flag upside down at their garrisons as a sign of sympathy for the rebels. Civilian
authorities were placed under house arrest. But after Ramos relieved Abenina of his command, the
brigadier general peacefully submitted.
Aquino will undoubtedly face strong pressure to deal harshly with the mutineers, if only to
discourage other plotters. In the past the President has treated rebellious soldiers leniently. After the
Manila Hotel coup, for instance, the participants received a ridiculously mild punishment: 30 push-
ups. But this time Aquino's credibility is on the line. Says a sympathetic Filipino scholar: "Everybody
is waiting for the President finally to put her foot down."
Yet military men are generally sympathetic to Honasan's complaints, if not his actions. That will
make it hard for Aquino to get tough without demoralizing the soldiers who remain the shield of her
democratic government. The key may lie in taking dramatic steps -- improving conditions for the
military, stepping up assaults on the guerrillas -- to allay her troops' concern, even as she disciplines
the rebels. Indeed, some officers may have toed the Aquino line because of a threat to their goals. At
the height of the coup attempt, Washington passed word to coup leaders that if they were successful,
the U.S. would halt military aid to the Philippines, effectively paralyzing all operations against the
Communists. Aquino, says U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, "has to organize her armed forces and find
persons she can depend upon to probe these grievances and pull together an organization that she
can depend on." Adds Lugar: "This is easier described than done."
As bullets flew past Malacanang last week, the rudely awakened President may have reflected on the
difficulty of that task, and of many others she faces. Months before Aquino took seriously to politics,
she said, "If I were President, I don't think I could ever sleep with all the problems in my head." Now
that she has the job, it is a wonder she gets any sleep at all.