Word: aquinos
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President Corazon Aquino's smile was as bright as the sunshine outside when she entered the wood-paneled Cabinet room in Manila's Malacanang Palace. "Had I known this kind of victory was going to be achieved," she jokingly told her ministers, "I would have asked all of you to run." Responding with laughter and applause, the Cabinet congratulated Aquino on what appeared to be an overwhelming victory by her candidates last week in nationwide voting for 24 seats in the Senate and 200 in the House of Representatives...
...concentrated now on just two countries, Egypt and Israel. Among the industrialized nations, we have sunk to 17th in the proportion of our gross national product that we give to aid our poorer neighbors abroad. Some even have suggested that $200 million is to much to give to Aquino's Philippene government...
...groups' popularity has resulted in official ambivalence. In mid- March, Aquino announced that all paramilitary groups would henceforth be banned. Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Fidel Ramos strongly protested. "If there's any group that should be dissolved, it's the N.P.A.," he said. Aquino backtracked, saying there would be "no immediate dismantling" of the groups...
...many issues, Aquino is caught between the right and left wings of her fractious government. Her liberal advisers charge that the vigilantes threaten to become the Philippine equivalents of Latin American death squads. Says Haydee Yurac, a former member of Aquino's Presidential Commission on Human Rights: "It's a dangerous phenomenon that can easily get out of hand." Conservatives, including many officials of the Roman Catholic Church, counter that the people have a right to self-protection. The vigilantes, says Jaime Cardinal Sin, the outspoken Archbishop of Manila, represent the "people reacting to the violence of the rebels." Says...
President Aquino is believed to support a gradual phaseout of the vigilantes in favor of a citizens' army based on the Israeli model. Says she: "The challenge is to mobilize people in the defense of their communities but with all the safeguards that will prevent the abuse of this great power." The problem is that Alsa Masa and its counterparts have been effective in the battle against the Communists. Vigilante supporters say Aquino cannot afford to ignore their successes, whatever the long-term risks...