Crisis Continues, Aquino Aides Say : Philippines: Many rebel fighters and leaders remain at large. Manila does not rule out another coup attempt.

President Corazon Aquino’s government declared Thursday that the Philippines remains in crisis as military authorities confirmed that at least half of the soldiers and all of the leaders behind a weeklong military rebellion are still at large.

Brig. Gen. Oscar Florendo, the armed forces spokesman, told reporters that the uprising that began Dec. 1 in a bid to topple Aquino had spent its principal force, but neither Florendo nor officials at the presidential palace would rule out another coup attempt in the future.

As an additional security measure today, 284 of the mutinous Philippine marines captured during the fighting were put inside two navy prison ships in Manila Bay. One of the ships was the same prison vessel from which a coup leader, army Lt. Col. Gregorio Honasan, escaped in April 1988, but authorities said the imprisonment today was a sign the military will be harsh on the mutineers.

Honasan, a key figure in the most recent coup attempt, is among the top rebel leaders still at large.

Confirming independent threats by some rebel leaders that they now plan to launch an underground destabilization campaign against Aquino, Florendo said, “From the documents and intelligence we have seen, they are going to conduct another phase if this did not succeed--urban terrorism.”

In addition, Florendo acknowledged that the air force commandant who led an estimated 350 to 400 rebel troops in the seizure of strategic Mactan Air Base in the central province of Cebu is still refusing to surrender after negotiations broke down late Thursday.

But leaders here of the rebellion said that Mactan’s commander, air force Brig. Gen. Jose Commendador, is likely to surrender at Cebu, following the lead of the four officers and 418 men who gave up their siege early Thursday in Makati, Manila’s high-rise financial district.

Despite lingering fears, there was a wave of relief through most of the capital after the rebels pulled out of Makati. Residents of the district’s luxury condominiums and office towers began to return to their offices and homes after bomb squads had combed the area for booby traps. And the area’s millions of Christmas lights came back on for the first time since the commercial center became an urban war zone.

“I am relieved that the siege of Makati is over,” Aquino declared in a brief nationwide broadcast. “We must all join hands and consolidate our resources to rebuild what has been destroyed.”

Religious Support

Aquino also appealed to all Filipinos to demonstrate their support for her by attending a Mass scheduled this afternoon at a site commemorating the 1986 military-civil uprising that toppled former President Ferdinand E. Marcos and brought her to power.

The president announced that she will form an inquiry commission to investigate the causes of the sixth and most serious attempted coup against her administration.

A spokesman described the commission as “part of the stock-taking she said that has to be done now,” although the political opposition voiced concern that the commission could be used for a witch hunt within their ranks.

Addressing a news conference of foreign journalists, presidential spokesman Adolfo Azcuna sought to place Manila’s week of mutiny and bloodshed in the best light.

“In fact,” he said, “this could be taken in a positive light in the sense that the nation could rekindle its efforts and build from the damage. Now she (Aquino) will redouble her efforts . . . to see what has gone wrong and what else needs to be done.”

Dismissing a wave of angry nationalist editorials and public comments, Azcuna minimized the political damage to Aquino resulting from her request for U.S. military intervention in the conflict, a move that analysts said was instrumental in saving her government last Friday.

“The political implications are that, from certain quarters, this was an abrogation of Philippine sovereignty or it could weaken the stance of the Philippine government vis-a-vis the United States” during negotiations next year on the future of the two huge U.S. military bases here, Azcuna said.

“But I believe on both counts that there is nothing to warrant that.”

Aquino’s advisers are known to be pressuring senior military leaders to impose harsh punishment on the 1,500 mutinous soldiers and officers now in custody, arguing that lenient sentences for plotters of past coup attempts--sentences such as doing 30 push-ups, attending Bible study classes and receiving “value formation training”--had failed to deter later coup attempts.

Military spokesman Florendo was deliberately vague about the punishment planned for the mutineers, but he indicated that the armed forces views this latest coup attempt with particular concern.

Quoting the rebels’ logistical commander, Honasan, by his nickname, Florendo said: “Gringo had said (of his previous coup attempt in 1987), their mistake last time was they were willing to die, but they were unwilling to kill. This time they were willing to kill.”

Florendo said that the week of fighting had caused at least $2 million in damage to armed forces facilities, not counting damaged military vehicles and aircraft.

“They have broken the law, and they must face the consequences,” he said of the rebels.

Asked whether he could rule out a future coup attempt by the same group of leaders, Florendo joked, “That would be like an assurance to my wife that I will not drink beer again.” But then he added, “We can never be sure of anything.”

According to Florendo’s conservative estimates, at least 1,000 and perhaps as many as 1,500 rebel soldiers scattered during the fighting and are now underground.

He said that 1,500 men who surrendered or were captured are now under guard in their barracks, adding that “all of them will be investigated.”

He added, “There is no more military capability (among the rebel movement) as strong as what they had. We do not believe they will take any other base.”

For loyalist troops who fought to defend the government, the Department of Defense announced Thursday that each will be promoted one rank.