Manila Coup Leaders Say They’re Ready to Fight U.S.

Renegade leaders of last December’s coup attempt threatened Saturday to do battle with the United States if Washington intervenes in Philippine affairs.

“If the U.S. government is ready and willing to have another Vietnam experience, then the (mutineers) together with the Filipino people are willing to give them a fight that they will never forget,” said a statement by the Revolutionary Alliance for the Masses-Soldiers of the Filipino People.

U.S. jets, by flying overhead and keeping rebel craft grounded, helped thwart the Dec. 1-9 coup attempt that killed 113 people and was believed led by the Alliance.

American officials have repeatedly voiced support for President Corazon Aquino, who has survived six armed attempts to topple her four-year-old administration.

“The U.S. government will be solely responsible for whatever actions we might consider to take against them,” said the rebel statement distributed near a military headquarters. “For as long as they leave us Filipinos alone in settling our internal problems, then they are not our enemy.”

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Victoria Middleton refused to comment on the statement until U.S. authorities received a copy.

Last week, the State Department warned Americans of a heightened terrorist threat in the Philippines during the Easter holidays.

The statement was issued amid rumors of a new plot to oust Aquino. Late Saturday, pro-government troops manned positions near the headquarters of the Philippine armed forces in suburban Quezon City and the nearby headquarters of the national police.

Armored personnel carriers were deployed at gasoline stations near the sprawling camps, which were attacked by mutineers during the December failed coup.

In a related development, another renegade group on Saturday threatened to attack suspected British “mercenaries” allegedly training Aquino’s security forces.

The warning by the Young Officers Union came in an open letter to the British Embassy.

Rebels said British military instructors last Wednesday and Thursday joined troops from Aquino’s security forces in staging mock attacks on the palace, the Manila airport and the House of Representatives building.

The Young Officers Union is believed to be an offshoot of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, which has taken the name Revolutionary Alliance for the Masses.

Both groups charge that Aquino’s government is incompetent and corrupt. Aquino says the rebels want to grab power from her elected administration, installed after a 1986 revolt that ousted President Ferdinand E. Marcos.