Word: malacanang
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...Imelda Marcos' reputation for extravagance, 65 parasols are easy to explain. After all, the sun is hot in Manila. But what did the former Philippine First Lady do with 15 mink coats? These were among the items listed in the government's latest inventory of possessions left behind in Malacanang Palace by the fleeing Marcoses last February. Also listed were 508 floor- length gowns, 888 handbags and 71 pairs of sunglasses. The final tally on Imelda's shoes was 1,060 pairs, less than the 3,000 originally reported. Still, the legend of the shoes lives on. Included...
When thousands of demonstrators set out in Manila last week to march on Malacanang Palace, the office of President Corazon Aquino, the police took standard precautions. To contain the roisterous crowd, which chanted demands for immediate land reform, 500 riot policemen equipped with truncheons and metal shields lined up in eight-deep rows at the foot of the Mendiola Bridge, the main approach to the palace. Two water cannons and eight fire trucks pulled up as well, and a contingent of Philippine marines, on temporary security duty at Malacanang, deployed behind the police phalanx...
...late afternoon the 10,000 protesters, some armed with iron rods and wooden clubs with nails protruding, began advancing on the bridge. As Jaime Tadeo, a leftist peasant leader, shouted, "Charge Malacanang! Break down the barricades!" and his followers returned a chant of "Revolution! Revolution!," the protesters closed with the security forces. At first the policemen held their ground, but as the crowd pushed forward amid a hail of stones, the police lines began wavering. Frantic police officers shouted, "You can't go through." Tadeo, struggling in the front lines, yelled back, "We're going to Malacanang...
...Aquino, the incident triggered the worst crisis her eleven-month-old government has faced since a military coup attempt last November that fizzled before it got off the ground. Two hours after the marines opened fire at the bridge, word reached Malacanang of a further setback: talks had broken off between the government and the National Democratic Front, the political wing of the Communist New People's Army (N.P.A.) in the effort to end the Philippines' 18-year-old insurgency. Leftists as well as rightists quickly seized on the setbacks to launch attacks on the President...
...inquiry. She accepted the offer of General Ramon Montano, the constabulary chief of Manila, to take a leave. Montano admitted that the soldiers "might have overreacted," but "as far as we are concerned, we exercised maximum tolerance. We had to stop them, or they would have been all over Malacanang." That did not explain why tear gas, water cannons and fire hoses had not been used against the crowd before the security forces began shooting...