The AQUINO MANAGEMENTOf The PRESIDENCY

IN THE FACE OF CRISIS

Published by thePresidential Management StaffOffice of the PresidentManila, PhilippinesJune 1992

"Arm-chair critics and destabilizers have asked -can we survive despite all the problems that wesuffer? My answer is definite yes! Yes, we willsurvive despite natural calamities, destabilizationcampaigns, insurgency, international crises andscathing criticism from those who should betalking less and working more. With fullconfidence in our people's resolve to sustain thisfreedom, we will survive. And we will grow".

President Corazon C. Aquino

Philippine League of CouncilorsFirst National CongressSeptember 7, 1990

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INTRODUCTION

THIS VOLUME OF The Aquino Management of the Presidency series seeks to documenthow President Corazon C. Aquino, the members of the Cabinet, and her closest advisersmanaged the crisis situations that confronted the Aquino governrnent. Not all the crisissituations are covered. The focus is on the seven putsches and related events whichthreatened the existence of the government or the unity of the armed forces.Chapter 1, entitled 'The Coup Attempts That Failed", covers crisis situations whichstarted with the takeover of the Manila Hotel by the Marcos loyalists on July 6 to 7, barelyfour months after President Aquino assumed office, up to Black Saturday, April 18, 1987,when a band of rebel soldiers took over the Philippine Army headquarters. These were thejabs, as in boxing.Chapter 2, entitled 'The Military Putsches That Almost Succeeded", covers thepunches: the bloody August 28, 1987 and the near fatal December 1989 coup attempts. It alsotouches on the escape of renegade Col. Gregorio 'Gringo' Honasan in 1988.Chapter 3, entitled 'The Gulf Crisis", covers the crisis situations during the Gulf War inlate 1990 to February 1991 which the military rebels could have exploited to go in for the kill,were they not too weak to do so, having spent their strength and credibility in coup attemptafter coup attempt.The tragedy of a coup d'etat is that it is planned and executed by military officers whohave pledged loyalty to the Constitution, the duly constituted government and theCommander-in-Chief. It was difficult enough that the Aquino government inherited a three-pronged insurgency led by the Communist Party of the Philippines - New People's Army (CPP-NPA), the secessionist movement in Mindanao led by the Moro National Liberation Front(MNLF), and the insurgency in the Cordilleras led by the Cordillera People's Liberation Army(CPLA).When we look back at the crises that confronted the Aquino government in the last sixyears, there is no doubt that the transition from dictatorship to democracy had been adifficult one. The return of democratic processes meant the loss of wealth, power, andprivilege to those who, at every possible opportunity, opposed its restoration.However painful the experience was, we can put it in perspective with what ishappening in the newly restored democracies of the world. The key elements are the same: anew and inexperienced government; the deposed ruling elite attempting to regain power;and, a powerful military in an uneasy partnership with its former enemies. It may bepresumptuous to say so, but we will say it nonetheless: we have done as well, if not betterthan many of the newly restored democracies.It is tempting to be revisionist and to just gloss over some of the more unpleasantaspects of the events that happened. The truth is that yes, there was tension between thehighest civilian and military officials of the land. And yes, it was not always well among thePresident and members of the Cabinet. The conflicts stemmed not only from clashes of