Manila’s New Defense Minister Investigates Reported Plot

The Philippines’ new defense minister, Rafael Ileto, on Monday launched an “informal investigation” into whether dissident members of the Philippine armed forces actually were plotting a coup against President Corazon Aquino last Saturday night or whether the rumored plot was a “psychological warfare” campaign that backfired.

Noting that the military has now sufficiently “defused the situation” so that the Philippine people “can relax a little” after several weeks of crisis, Ileto added that he has no plans at the moment to punish any officers who may have been involved in such a plot.

Aquino and her military chief of staff, Gen. Fidel V. Ramos, on Sunday used the widely rumored coup plot as a reason for firing Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, a frequent critic of the president’s policies, and to ask for courtesy resignations from the rest of the Cabinet.

A spokesman for the president said that Aquino is not likely to announce which resignations she will accept until later this week, though several top aides said the changes will be extensive. Most of her government’s attention was focused Monday on explaining in detail to the now-relieved nation the events that led up to the most critical day of Aquino’s presidency.

Presidential Press Secretary Teodoro Benigno reiterated to reporters Monday afternoon that a coup attempt was, indeed, being planned late Saturday night by 180 opposition politicians and members of Enrile’s internal security group. These are the same men who staged the rebellion last February that led to the toppling of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

It was the removal of these military plotters, whom he did not mention by name, that Benigno said ranked among Aquino’s greatest triumphs.

“One of the three daggers at the heart of this government has been removed,” Benigno said, adding that the Communist insurgency and the nation’s lingering economic crisis remain. “This small group in the military, that had largely acoustical ability to frighten the entire country, is now gone.”

As evidence of a plot, though, Benigno cited only a Saturday night dinner party at the home of dissident politician Antonio Carag. There, he said, members of Marcos’ New Society Movement political party were plotting to seize the building that housed the defunct National Assembly, which Aquino dissolved in March, declare her presidency illegal and launch a coup against Aquino’s government.

The plan then called for the assembly to name Nicanar Yniguez--the assembly Speaker under Marcos--acting president until elections could be held or to pledge allegiance to the Aquino government pending new elections.

“But that was just a ploy,” Benigno said. “Eventually their target was to bump her (Aquino) off.”

“Many of these military rebels were in on what was happening in Mr. Carag’s house,” Benigno added.

Several senior military analysts here said that such a plot was unlikely last Saturday night, and, in a press conference Monday afternoon, the new defense minister, a retired general and former diplomat, said he was not so sure that a coup plot even existed.

“There is a belief that there was,” Ileto said, but he quickly added that there is no hard evidence to prove it.

“I cannot say there is a document; that we tapped the phones of these people,” added Ileto, a graduate of West Point and an expert on psychological warfare and coups d’etat. “There are even some rumors that this was ‘psy-war,’ as they say.”

Several guests at the party that night said the idea of overthrowing the government was never discussed, and, officially, leaders of Marcos’ party called a press conference of their own Monday to deny any involvement in the alleged plot.

“We never discussed nor had any meetings with military officers about any coup, nor were we privy to such a move,” declared Yniguez, the former pro-Marcos Speaker of the defunct assembly. Yniguez described the dinner at Carag’s house as “the regular monthly meeting” of their party.

Rather than plot a coup that night, Yniguez said, the members discussed “the rising tide of anarchy and the series of killings” in Manila, which he said were “spawned by the vindictive, vengeful and arrogant posture of top officials of the incumbent administration.”

Aquino’s press secretary also cited the recent gangland-style murders of labor leader Rolando Olalia and pro-Enrile politician David Puzon as two of the three key parts of “the trigger” that finally pushed the president into taking decisive action to reform her government.

“The idea of mass courtesy resignations had actually been entertained by the president for some time,” Benigno said, adding that Aquino nearly called for them before leaving for a state visit to Tokyo amid similar coup rumors earlier this month.

The recent murders, which triggered a 10-hour leftist rally that drew 100,000 marchers into Manila’s streets demanding Enrile’s resignation last week, was pushing Aquino toward ridding herself of her defense minister. But it was not until the coup rumors again spread through Manila on Saturday that she opted for decisive action.

Several sources speculated, however, that it may have been forces under Ramos who spread the rumors to justify a preemptive strike against any future coup and, ultimately, Enrile’s ouster.

In fact, it was Aquino’s chief of staff, also a psy-war expert, who set the stage for Aquino’s dramatic, two-hour Cabinet meeting.

Ramos never said a coup attempt was in progress. In a statement drafted at 2 a.m. Sunday, he warned only of “intelligence reports” that said such a coup “may” happen, and the general immediately took sweeping, nationwide actions to guard against it, deploying combat troops to seal off every major broadcast facility and government center in the country.

“I wouldn’t say it was an overreaction,” Ileto told reporters Monday, comparing Ramos’ reaction to the intelligence reports to a bomb scare. “If you get a bomb threat in a plane, you stop the plane. This is just a safety precaution.”

Nonetheless, Ileto added, “disciplinary action cannot be imposed based merely on intelligence information.” And despite his pledge to investigate the alleged plot, Ileto hinted strongly that no action will be taken against the core group of officers in Enrile’s security group, with whom Ileto met privately several hours after Enrile’s firing Sunday night.

“I just told them that it’s possible we might have some redeployment,” he said, which would remove the group’s leaders from his ministry--and possibly from Manila, as well.

As for Enrile, a close personal friend of the new defense minister, Ileto said the military cannot charge him with any wrongdoing because Enrile is a civilian.

Enrile himself continued his silence over the matter Monday, but close friends described the shrewd, career politician and government leader as “relaxed” and “finally at peace.” Sources close to his family said Enrile plans to take a monthlong trip abroad in the near future.

The nation as a whole apparently was in the same condition. After months of almost-daily coup rumors, murders, bombings, kidnapings and fear, Ileto said, “I think we have defused the situation to the point where the population can relax a little bit.”

Meanwhile, in Washington, White House spokesman Larry Speakes issued a statement of support Monday for the Aquino government, praising the action taken by Aquino over the weekend to halt an impending coup and restore confidence in her leadership.

“We are hopeful, now, that all parties will focus on the serious economic and security problems facing their country, and unite behind Mrs. Aquino’s efforts to solve them,” Speakes said. “She enjoys strong international support, and the country needs to take advantage of the moment.”

Times staff writer Eleanor Clift in Washington contributed to this story.