The mood was tense as the two men, clad in olive and gray and blinking into the glare of television lights, took their seats before a cluster of microphones in a social hall of the Philippine Ministry of Defense at Camp Aguinaldo. Behind them huddled about a dozen soldiers, some in full battle regalia. Outside, at the gates of the ministry, less than five miles from Malacanang Palace, the presidential residence in downtown Manila, heavily armed guards and tanks stood at the ready. When the two men began to speak, the reason for the precautions became startlingly clear, for they were...
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