Word: manila
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Only one railroad line runs the 250 miles from Manila to Naga, a city of 100,000 people located on the narrow, volcano-filled Bicol peninsula. Early last week that line was dramatically severed as 500 men, dressed in military fatigues and believed to be guerrillas of the Communist New People's Army, hijacked a train bound from Naga to the capital. They commandeered it to the town of Del Gallego and attacked the local constabulary headquarters, killing at least five policemen and three civilians. To cover their rear, the rebels blew up a key railroad bridge and effectively...
...attempt by the N.P.A. to wrest the strategic region from President Corazon Aquino's government, which was shaken and nearly toppled on Aug. 28 by a violent military mutiny. In the past four weeks alone, the Communist rebels have dynamited four bridges and torn up railway tracks along the Manila-Naga line. "It looks like a scenario for cutting off the north-south transportation of the country," said a Western military analyst. Some politicians warned that the N.P.A. might soon isolate Bicol from Manila and form a provisional government...
...official cashiering of Colonel Gregorio ("Gringo") Honasan from his command of special operations at a provincial fort. Honasan, the leader of the failed revolt, remained at large with as many as 2,000 renegade troops. According to press reports, Honasan has been secretly slipping in and out of Manila under the protection of military guards. Members of the business community may now be funding him, and some observers predicted he would launch a new coup attempt within a few weeks. If so, he could win support among government troops and officers, a majority of whom continue to sympathize with Honasan...
...large number of the rebels had taken refuge in Camp Aguinaldo in the Makati district of Manila--including the leader of the coup attempt, "Gringo" Honasan. Under General Ramos, government troops quickly assembled at Camp Krame, directly across form the rebel holdout, in preparation for an attempt to overpower Honasan's troops...
...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, as she used to," said a Western analyst in Manila, "she would have kept Joker on and kicked Ramos upstairs. But to her dismay, she found out she could do neither." On TV last week, she assured her people that she was "on top of the situation." But as the chaos around her deepens, Filipinos fear there may be little...