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If that is the case, military strength will count all the more. Under Marcos' Chief of Staff, the despised General Fabian Ver, the Philippine armed forces became corrupt, undisciplined and top-heavy with overage brass. Ramos, the West Point graduate and respected professional who took Ver's place, says he plans to change that. One of his first acts last week was to retire 22 generals, including Ver himself and the chiefs of the major branches of the armed services. It was the first step in a military reform program long urged by the U.S. The Reagan Administration was delighted with Aquino's choice for Chief of Staff. "When you talk to Ramos about the problems of the Philippines," said a senior Pentagon official, "he can lay it all out."
Before the election, President Reagan promised the Philippines increased military and economic aid if the balloting was clean and fair. Washington intends to offer assistance to Aquino, but is not likely to act before ascertaining details of her overall plans. When the time comes, however, almost any request for military, economic and development assistance to the Philippines is certain to be well received on Capitol Hill.
Appreciation of Aquino in Washington is relatively new. Early on, many in the Administration dismissed her as inexperienced. They were especially concerned that if elected, she would demand that the U.S. abandon its military bases at Clark and Subic Bay Naval Station. There appears to be little danger of that, however. In a speech last month before the joint Philippine and foreign Chambers of Commerce, Aquino promised that she would consult other nations in the region and "especially" the Filipino people before signing any new treaty. Since then, she has repeatedly maintained that she would honor the present agreement until it expires in 1991, and between now and then keep her options open. As the campaign progressed, Aquino scored points in Washington, first for showing savvy and resilience on the stump, then, after the National Assembly declared Marcos the election winner, for keeping her + followers under control. "It became pretty clear that this was no ordinary housewife," said a senior State Department official.
During Aquino's 28-year marriage to one of the Philippines' ablest political figures, she seemed quite content to be a housewife and mother, and she was a genuinely reluctant presidential candidate. But she managed to channel widespread dissatisfaction with Marcos into a steamroller campaign that in the end swept him from power. U.S. pressure on Marcos surely helped, as did the last-minute defections of Enrile and Ramos. But at the center of it all was Aquino: petite, polite, increasingly self-assured, a woman who spoke for a country, molding an inchoate popular movement into a winning political force. The base of her appeal was a quiet strength, deeply rooted in her devotion to the Roman Catholic Church, which imbued her with seeming invincibility. "Ninoy you could hurt," said Teodoro Locsin, 37, Aquino's Minister of Information, last week. "But Cory you cannot hurt."