The Philippines $ First a Firing, Then a Truce

By William E. Smith

Scarcely a week after her government seemed about to falter under intense pressure from within the armed forces, President Corazon Aquino reasserted her authority with skillful timing. First she fired her leading critic within the Cabinet, Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile. Then, following three months of negotiation, she reached an agreement with Communist-backed rebels for a 60- day truce beginning Dec. 10. The cease-fire, the first in the 17-year history of the insurgency, will give the government and the rebels a chance to explore the possibilities of a longer-lasting settlement. Moreover, the truce will free Aquino to campaign for adoption of a new constitution in a plebiscite on Feb. 2. If approved, that charter will strengthen the powers of the presidency and give Aquino a firmer hand in dealing with the nation's problems.

"I have no doubt that the next phase will be even more difficult," declared the government's chief negotiator with the rebels, Agriculture Minister Ramon Mitra, "but the obstacles will be overcome." The agreement with the Communist-dominated National Democratic Front, the political umbrella organization for the 20,000-member New People's Army, permits as many as 50 rebel negotiators to set up a headquarters in Manila. They will be immune from official search, arrest and prosecution. The armed forces will retain the right to respond to "hostile acts" by the N.P.A. during the truce.

The insurgents insisted on the right to collect "progressive taxes" in rebel-controlled areas and to seize weapons from government depots and other sources while the peace talks are in progress. The armed forces understandably found both provisions unacceptable. In a carefully worded compromise, the two sides agreed that these practices would not be designated as "hostile acts," but at the same time the armed forces reserved the right to take action against them.

The cease-fire was signed at Manila's Club Filipino, the sumptuous establishment in the suburb of Greenhills where President Aquino took her oath of office ten months ago. She was not present for the historic moment. Instead, along with her friend and adviser Jaime Cardinal Sin, the Archbishop of Manila, she attended a ceremony that morning marking what would have been her slain husband Benigno's 54th birthday.

Before the signing, Mitra held a press conference with the N.D.F.'s chief negotiator, Satur Ocampo. Both men sounded guardedly hopeful. "We're holding onto our guns," said Ocampo. "It will be a cease-fire in place." Still, he pledged that the rebels, who control 18% of the country's 42,000 villages, would honor the truce. Said Mitra, for his part: "Both sides won the war." He added that the negotiations had been "eased through friendship and goodwill," noting that he and the N.D.F. negotiators had been journalistic colleagues long before President Ferdinand Marcos declared war on the insurgents by imposing martial law in 1972.

Among those who welcomed the cease-fire was Enrile's successor as Defense Minister, Rafael Ileto, a West Point graduate and former Ambassador to Iran and Thailand who had served most recently as Enrile's deputy. Ileto encouraged the armed forces to take advantage of the lull in the fighting to help with such local public works projects as building rural roads and repairing war- damaged schools and marketplaces. Not everyone was pleased with the truce. A top officer warned that the army might still launch attacks on rebel strongholds after the agreement takes effect. Indeed, at least 15 people were reported killed in two separate skirmishes between the army and insurgents in Central Luzon on the day the truce was signed. "If someone carries a gun without a permit, we will accost him," the officer said. "If he resists, we will shoot him as a common criminal."

Meanwhile, N.D.F. hard-liners felt that the agreement should have forbidden the government to accept military aid during the cease-fire. Some insurgents were skeptical about Aquino's sincerity; they feared that moderates who joined the front out of opposition to Marcos would be susceptible to Aquino's blandishments. But the N.D.F. leadership, faced with an ultimatum from Aquino to accept or reject a truce by the end of the month, apparently felt it had little choice but to try to achieve its ends through negotiations, at least for the time being.

The breakthrough could not have been achieved if the President had not so efficiently dispatched the unruly Enrile. After a fortnight of uncertainty and rumors of pending coups, the President had been strengthened by the unambiguous support of her popular armed forces Chief of Staff, General Fidel Ramos (see box). Calling Enrile to Malacanang Palace on Sunday, Nov. 23, she told him bluntly, "I want you to resign, Johnny." Replied the unflappable Enrile: "Sure, why not? But don't think I am part of the whole problem, because I am not a problem." Enrile expressed his fears about the continuing insurgency and assured the President that she had nothing to worry about from him. Two hours later Aquino announced to the nation on television that he was out.

The decision to fire Enrile finally came about, say palace sources, after the government received intelligence reports that some members of the defunct National Assembly, the Batasang Pambansa, planned to reconvene the legislature, proclaim former Speaker Nicanor Yniguez as acting President of the Republic and then call for a national election. A pro-Enrile segment of the armed forces reportedly backed the plan and promised to guard the National Assembly building. Tension mounted Saturday evening when officers identified with the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) failed to appear as expected at a military meeting.

RAM had helped precipitate the revolt of Enrile and Ramos against the Marcos regime last February; more recently it had become dissatisfied with the way Aquino was running the country. When officers of the movement did not show up at the Nov. 22 meeting, Ramos feared that a coup was under way. He immediately summoned the chiefs of the armed services and dispatched troops to defend the palace, the Assembly building and strategic TV and radio installations. That evening, one RAM officer reportedly called Ramos and urged him to join the revolt. When the Chief of Staff refused, the officer is said to have replied, "Then we'll go it alone." Later that night, as Enrile was attending a meeting of former Batasang members, six truckloads of troops, presumably under orders from Ramos, surrounded the area while another contingent went to Camp Aguinaldo, headquarters of the Defense Ministry.

That night, Corazon Aquino hardly slept. Seven times she called her executive secretary, Joker Arroyo, with questions. At 8 a.m. she summoned her Cabinet and asked each member what she should do about Enrile. It was obvious, said a staffer, that she had made up her mind to get rid of him.

Even as the Cabinet meeting was under way, Manila radio reported that Ramos had issued a secret directive to all regional commanders instructing them not to follow orders from Enrile or one of his closest comrades, Lieut. Colonel Gregorio Honasan. At noon, Press Secretary Teodoro Benigno left the Cabinet meeting to announce Ramos' appeal that officers maintain "calm and stability in their respective areas of jurisdiction."

Security was stepped up sharply. For the first time since the overthrow of Marcos, reporters were not allowed on the Malacanang Palace grounds. Checkpoints were installed on roads leading into the capital. In midafternoon, as soon as she had told the nation of her decision to oust Enrile, the President gave the oath of office to Ileto. Then she went to the Quirino grandstand in Manila's Rizal Park and declared at a religious rally that the country had been spared a catastrophe. "I suppose our prayers have again been answered," she said, "because this afternoon we have once again done something that was peaceful. All our ministers have resigned." Putting it more bluntly, Teodoro Benigno declared that with Enrile's ouster a "dagger" had been removed from the government's heart.

Hours after he was sworn in, Ileto paid a courtesy call on Enrile and held a press conference at which he described his predecessor as an old friend. Soon afterward, the new Defense Minister was visited by some 30 RAM officers. "I preached to them about unity," Ileto said later. His visitors apparently listened. Commented one RAM member, Navy Captain Rex Robles: "The game is over."

The President had hoped to avoid a Cabinet reshuffle until after the Feb. 2 plebiscite and had resisted pressure from the military to remove ineffectual and corrupt Cabinet ministers. She reportedly quipped, "If I give them my hand, the next time they will ask for my arm." After the Enrile firing, however, it was clear that someone would have to go, to meet at least the spirit of the military's demands. At week's end she announced the removal of Natural Resources Minister Ernesto Maceda and Public Works Minister Rogaciano Mercado, whose ministries have been accused of corruption. She praised both men as "stalwarts" of the opposition to Marcos and "real champions of Filipino freedom." But she added that she was "compelled by the national interest" to get rid of them.

The next step, needed to appease the generals who have backed her and to avoid a split within the armed forces, will probably be the firing of one or more of the leftist ministers whom the military has also criticized. Among these are Labor Minister Augusto Sanchez and Local Government Minister Aquilino Pimentel. Aquino has appeared to be reluctant to make changes, partly out of friendship and partly because she does not have many suitable candidates to offer as replacements. In addition, she needs to marshal support for the campaign to ratify the new constitution. Enrile, who may emerge as the leading opposition figure and the heir to much of Ferdinand Marcos' dormant support, is opposed to ratification and reportedly plans to campaign against it.

Thus the break between the President and Enrile was at last complete. On Friday morning, during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new chapel on the outskirts of Manila, she went out of her way to thank him for the role he had played in the February revolt, but he was not pres-ent to receive the compliment. In a ceremony at the Defense Ministry four hours later, Enrile received the Philippine Legion of Honor, the nation's highest civilian award, which is customarily presented to the recipient by the President in person. On this occasion, however, Aquino was not on hand to give it to her enigmatic former colleague.

With reporting by Richard Hornik and Nelly Sindayen/ Manila