The rumor mill had already established the date and time of the coming coup: Dec. 1 at 3 a.m. But Manila was used to rumors. And since the failure of the last big putsch, in August 1987, most of the talk had led nowhere, good only for a stir in the stock market or titillation among armchair plotters in the capital's gossipy coffee shops. At 10 p.m. on Nov. 30, the speculation was scotched as the government announced the arrest of three members of an elite military division who had attempted to sabotage a provincial communications station south of Manila. For most Filipinos, that seemed to be it. Another coup quashed. Another night to dream up new plots.
But the old plot had barely begun. Just after midnight, as Manila slept, a contingent of 200 Philippine marines and Scout Rangers stationed themselves above a strategic highway leading to Fort Bonifacio, headquarters of the Philippine army, and suburban Villamor Air Base. Accompanied by two armored personnel carriers, the soldiers were armed with automatic rifles and supplied with mortars. On their left sleeves they bore a strange white patch with the letters RAM-SFP. The first three initials identified the men as members of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, an organization of Young Turks that was thought to have been disbanded after its leader, the renegade former Lieut. Colonel Gregorio ("Gringo") Honasan, 41, staged the coup that nearly toppled President Corazon Aquino more than two years ago. The second set of letters stood simply for Soldiers of the Filipino People. Asked what they were up to, one marine said, "We are here for our country." And then they began to take it by force.
Suddenly, Manila seemed to be besieging itself as rebel troops and government soldiers staked out territory in the city and launched attacks on each other. Not since World War II had so much firepower been seen and used in the capital region. More than ever before, the Aquino regime tottered on the brink of collapse as rebel bazookas blasted away at soldiers defending television broadcast facilities and as factions within the air force joined the rebels and bombed the presidential compound.
Even as she declared the situation under control, Aquino made a humiliating admission of weakness: she requested and was granted U.S. military assistance. The rapid deployment of several U.S. F-4 Phantoms from Clark Air Base, the American air base north of Manila, retook the skies for Aquino. The unusually decisive action by George Bush earned him bipartisan praise for coming to the rescue of democracy. Said U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell: "The President's decision was an appropriate and prudent one under the circumstances." But Aquino may be haunted by her decision for the rest of her political life. Alluding to the Philippines' former status as a U.S. possession, Max Soliven, a columnist for the pro-Aquino Philippine Star, wrote last week: "When a government cannot overcome a rebellion without 'outside' help, I hope that this does not make it a colony, a satrapy, or a banana republic, all over again."