Response to Coup Crisis Called ‘Impossible’ : Aquino Sues Over Claim She Hid Under Bed

MANILA —  Philippine President Corazon Aquino, who readily admits that she prays in times of crisis, today sued a journalist who suggested she also hid under her bed.

“This is my bed, it is impossible to hide under it,” Aquino fumed after inviting reporters into her inner sanctum.

The rare glimpse of the presidential bedroom came after newspaper columnist Luis Beltran called Aquino the first Philippine military commander in chief to react to an attack by hiding under her bed.

Aquino, who has acknowledged that she was “scared,” said previously that she was awakened by gunfire as rebel troops attacked the presidential palace in an abortive coup in August. She said then that she prayed after attempts to contact key military figures were at first unsuccessful.

Today she lifted the bedspread in the beige-colored, carpeted bedroom to show wooden panels that would have prevented anyone from getting under the bed.

She said she would have suffocated if she had tried to squeeze herself under it.

Aquino said Beltran “wants to make fun of me but I’m not going to let him. . . . He won’t get away with it.”

Palace officials said Aquino filed libel charges against Beltran.

Beltran, whose gossipy columns often poke fun at officials, said that in a Cabinet meeting after the coup attempt, Cabinet members were told to find hiding places in case another coup occurred. He gave no source for the claim.

“When the Cabinet agenda is topped by discussions on the best place to hide during a coup d’etat, you know the country is really in trouble,” Beltran said.