Word: aquinos
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Seated in the mahogany-paneled state dining room at Malacanang Palace, members of President Corazon Aquino's Cabinet stared at the blank sheets of paper that had been placed before them. "Of course, you all know what this meeting is about," said the President. Most did not, though they may have had a sense of deja vu once she began explaining. Aquino reminded them that ten months earlier she had asked the Cabinet to resign in the turmoil following an + alleged coup plot. Now, in the wake of the most serious coup attempt yet, it was time for another reshuffle...
Political turmoil is becoming a regular fact of life for Aquino. In the past six weeks, a Cabinet Secretary was assassinated, a general strike paralyzed major cities, and the bloody military uprising late last month came closer to unseating her than four previous attempts. Since that failed revolt, Aquino's leadership has come under severe question. Some 2,000 rebel soldiers remained at large, and bickering was mounting among her political supporters. Last week's mass resignation may have bought Aquino time to reorganize her government and recapture the sense of high expectation that marked her early months...
...rebels' charge of ineptitude also cuts deeply. In the past few months, Aquino's supporters have tried to rouse the President into taking firm action on a wide range of issues, including land reform, the Communist insurgency and the regulation of foreign investment. In almost all cases, Aquino has chosen to delay decisions, pass on responsibility to Congress or simply ignore the problems. The President has been faulted even by friends for reacting to crises by "praying and delaying." Of her survival, she said last week rather fatalistically, "If the country needs me, God will spare...
...issue that Aquino must quickly face is the fate of 1,000 captured rebels being detained aboard naval vessels in Manila Bay. Participants in the four previous uprisings against her have generally been let off lightly, but U.S. officials are counseling firmness this time. "Heads have to roll," says a Pentagon official. Already the President may be wavering. The government even seemed to be backing off from its earlier order to shoot Honasan on sight. And though she had earlier said the time for reconciliation had passed, last week Aquino almost seemed to be providing alibis for many...
...northern city of Baguio, 600 cadets at the Philippine Military Academy staged a three-day hunger strike in sympathy with Honasan. The N.P.A., declaring its intention to take advantage of the confusion caused by Honasan's revolt, killed 27 police and soldiers in an ambush in two provinces. Though Aquino has called Honasan a coward for abandoning hundreds of his men, his image as a dashing, reform-minded renegade could establish him as a folk hero to rival the President. "That young man should be shot," says David Steinberg, a leading U.S. authority on the Philippines. "Cory can't leave...