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Aquino's most urgent task, however, may be to consolidate control over the military as it tries to beat back the guerrillas of the New People's Army. The President has moved briskly to restore the credibility of the military by retiring more than half the country's 103 generals and placing new commanders in all four of the armed services. But here too the government is divided. Aquino's 26-member Cabinet includes both military hard-liners like Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, the architect of martial law during the Marcos regime, and human rights activists who wish to investigate alleged army offenses. The rift between the civilian and the military factions has been seized upon by the Communists as yet another reason not to accept Aquino's invitation to disarm. "How can she secure her share of responsibility in the negotiations," says Communist Party Founder Jose Maria Sison, "without having full control of the armed forces?"
The ongoing struggle in the countryside remains the principal concern of Washington, which has seemed decidedly cool toward the Aquino government. On his way to meet the new President two weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz declared, without much conviction, "Well, I assume she's in control." Nonetheless, the Administration has been increasingly impressed with the calm authority of the former homemaker, and recently pledged an additional $150 million in aid to Manila. "She's surprising us in some ways," said one Washington official. "She also seems clearly preferable to any of the alternatives." That much has been underlined by the troublesome presence in Hawaii of Marcos, whose payment of supporters to stir up unrest in Manila has irritated even the usually imperturbable Shultz. "He's causing trouble," declared the Secretary of State last week, "and some of it goes beyond just argument."
In running her Cabinet, whose members are drawn from most shades of the political rainbow, Aquino has largely chosen to delegate responsibility. The very diversity of the group, she claims, is an example of democracy in action. But hers remains a treacherous tightrope walk. Says Leandro Alejandro, the secretary-general of Bayan, the leftist political alliance: "If she goes to the right, she will lose a lot of her popularity, but if she goes to the left, the U.S. will not stand for it. And if she fights the military, she might end up in exile."
In the end, however, the new leader may mostly be a victim of her single great achievement: returning political freedom to the Philippines. It was Aquino, after all, who released Sison from jail, along with some 500 other political prisoners. She also permitted Marcos loyalists to protest her rule for three straight weeks in the streets of Manila. And she has actively encouraged the open questioning that Marcos so forcefully muzzled. "Less than 100 days is not enough time for a government to produce an impact," says Businessman Leonardo Alejandrino, "especially a government that almost by its own admission was not ready to hold office. But it is a long enough time for the euphoria to start wearing thin." Fortune may have lent a hand with the storybook beginning, but it is up to Aquino alone to secure a happy ending.