Word: aquinos
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...Aquino-Laurel divorce was only the latest sign that the President was still struggling to get a grip on an increasingly fractious government. A week earlier she had demanded the resignation of all 26 members of her Cabinet. Now advisers who had been at her side since the beginning of her tumultuous political career were departing Malacanang Palace. Among them were the leaders of the Cabinet factions whose intramural bickering had made ruling virtually impossible: Executive Secretary Joker Arroyo, her closest confidant, and Finance Secretary Jaime Ongpin, the industrialist whose expertise had given the country's debt renegotiations a needed...
Meanwhile, nearly a month after the violent mutiny of Colonel Gregorio ("Gringo") Honasan and 14 of the country's 86 army battalions, disaffection with Aquino among Philippine troops continued to grow. Playing for time, the President appears to have become heavily dependent on loyal officers in the armed forces. Contributing to the rising sense of danger, the Manila press crackled with new rumors of coups and palace intrigue...
After announcing his "irrevocable" resignation as Foreign Secretary, Vice President Laurel accused Aquino of reneging on a pre-election agreement to allow him to run the government. Aquino had "admitted that she would be incapable of running it since she had no experience," Laurel complained. There seemed to be some basis to his claim. On the eve of the February 1986 election, a high-ranking Roman Catholic clergyman -- and a prominent Aquino backer -- told a visitor that since Aquino claimed to be only a "housewife," he expected her to step down a few months after the election and turn...
There is a danger that Aquino's civilian opponents may ally with factions of the armed forces in an attempt to seize power. Already Juan Ponce Enrile, the Senate minority leader and Aquino's chief rival on the right, has the tacit support of Honasan and his renegades. Property owners who oppose Aquino's land-reform proposals are said to be aligning themselves with the rebels. Vice President Laurel, says David Wurfel, a Philippines expert at Canada's University of Windsor, "appears to be running for election by the military. He wants to pose himself as the civilian protector...
...other contenders for power, including Laurel and Enrile, she finds herself increasingly dependent on Ramos, the other major hero of the anti-Marcos revolution. The general, who has helped frustrate five coup attempts against the President, may have called in his debts last week. When it became clear that Aquino wanted to keep her friend Arroyo in the Cabinet -- and to shunt Ramos into a less strategic post, or perhaps even an ambassadorship -- the general balked. Amid a sudden rumor that loyal generals would stage a coup if Arroyo was retained, Aquino relented. "If Cory had her choice...