Former Key Adviser to Marcos, Military Reformer Leading Rebellion in Philippines

The attempt to unseat President Ferdinand E. Marcos on Saturday was led by one of his most trusted advisers, Defense Minster Juan Ponce Enrile, and the military’s No. 2 commander, Lt. Gen. Fidel V. Ramos.

Enrile, 62, had served in various Cabinet posts since Marcos came to power 20 years ago, and became defense minister in 1970.

He was one of the nation’s most powerful men. His home province of Cagayan delivered Marcos a victory in the disputed Feb. 7 special presidential election.

No inkling of his disaffection surfaced until Saturday, when opposition newspapers published front-page stories quoting Enrile aides as saying he planned to resign.

But a Defense Ministry spokesman, Jose Florez, said that Enrile and all other Cabinet members merely planned to submit “courtesy resignations” on the eve of Marcos’ inauguration, scheduled for Tuesday.

Enrile earned a master’s degree from Harvard Law School in 1955 after finishing at the top of his class at the University of the Philippines Law School.

Ramos, 57, also studied in the United States. He was graduated from West Point in 1950 and underwent special training at Ft. Benning, Ga., and at Ft. Bragg, N.C. He also earned a master of science degree in civil engineering at the University of Illinois.

He enjoys wide respect among younger Philippine officers and among U.S. officials who frequently called for reform in what they viewed as a corruption-ridden and inept Philippine military, beginning with the resignation of armed forces chief Gen. Fabian C. Ver.

Marcos announced Feb. 16 that he had accepted Ver’s resignation and that Ramos would be appointed interim armed forces chief. But Ramos said later that no date had been set for his ascendancy.

Ramos also heads the Philippine Constabulary, the national police force that is fighting the growing domestic communist insurgency. He was acting armed forces head while Ver was on trial last year on charges of conspiracy in the 1983 assassination of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr.

Ver and 25 other defendants were acquitted in December and Ver resumed his post, but opposition forces said that the trial was biased. Later in December, Marcos said that a rivalry existed between followers of Ver and Ramos in the armed forces, but he insisted the two men were not involved in the rivalry and were concerned about the problem.

Ramos is Marcos’ cousin. His late father, Narciso Ramos, was foreign minister under Marcos in 1966-68.

Ramos has not been untouched by charges that the government violated human rights. Three members of a 17-member fact-finding panel recommended in December that Ramos be charged with negligence in the Sept. 20 shooting deaths of 20 human rights demonstrators on Negros Island. Witnesses said that soldiers fired on more than 5,000 people, mostly farmers.

Ramos fought on the U.N. side during the Korean War as part of a Philippine expeditionary force and in Vietnam as an operations officer of a Filipino civic action force.