Aquino Fights Back

How close the Philippines may have come over the weekend to experiencing a long-rumored military coup is now under official investigation. Armed forces chief of staff Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, for one, thinks that an effort to seize the government was in fact very close. If so, Ramos’ intervention in securing the loyalty of major field commanders was instrumental in foiling the plot. Corazon Aquino’s nine-month-old presidency has thus been saved. Salvation by itself does not guarantee an end to political turmoil. What it does mean, as Aquino says, is the chance for a new beginning.

No one can fault her for not making a bold start. She has sacked Juan Ponce Enrile, the troublesome defense minister who at every opportunity challenged the legitimacy of the government he served. She has demanded the resignations of the rest of her cabinet, and close aides say that a number of ministers won’t return to a reorganized government. Military leaders, including Ramos, have been unhappy with some of those closest to Aquino because they saw them as too far to the left. A lot of moderates have been similarly unhappy with these same people, not so much because of their political views but because they were seen as incompetent.

It has long been clear that Aquino, who came to power without any political or administrative experience, has not been well served by her staff and advisers. The result has been a government that too often has appeared to be disorganized and adrift. Some of this was inevitable, given the careful left-right balance that Aquino tried for in her government. Some of it was inevitable because of the presence in that government of men who themselves hunger for the presidency, including Enrile and Vice President Salvador Laurel. But with better management in the presidential office many of Aquino’s problems probably could have been avoided.

The appointment as defense minister of the experienced and respected Rafael Ileto, a former general and diplomat and a counterinsurgency specialist, should help stabilize the government. The month-end deadline for a cease-fire that Aquino has given to the Communist-led insurgents should also help, if only in reassuring a restive military which suspects that the Communists have no intention of ending their armed struggle. Most Filipinos probably welcome these moves. Significant elements, on both the far left and the far right, do not. Efforts to undercut the plebiscite on the new constitution scheduled for next Feb. 2 can be expected to continue, with perhaps increasing violence. President Aquino’s problems are plainly far from over. At least now, though, she is in a stronger position than before to confront them.