Word: coupes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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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...
...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 these people to bring back the cruelty of the past dictatorship." The President referred to the rebels, with uncharacteristic acerbity, as "monsters...
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...
...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...