The God Save the Queen Plot was a planned coup in November 1986 by Minister of National Defense Juan Ponce Enrile and the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM), a dissident faction within the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to overthrow President Corazon Aquino, whom it helped install during the People Power Revolution nine months before. However, the staging of the coup was delayed and ultimately stopped by maneuvers within the AFP led by Chief of Staff General Fidel Ramos before a shot was even fired. As a result, Enrile was subsequently fired by Aquino from her cabinet.
The coup, along with another one in July 1987, were the only attempts against Aquino, out of a total of nine, that were uncovered before it could be carried out. It also marked the beginning of RAM's break with Aquino, which culminated with the August 1987 Philippine coup attempt against her.
Background
The Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) was a group of dissident soldiers and officers of the AFP that was formed in the latter years of the dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos. In 1986, some of these officers, led by Colonel Gringo Honasan and Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile launched a failed coup d'état against Marcos and were later joined by AFP Vice Chief of Staff General Fidel Ramos, prompting a large number of civilians to attempt to prevent Marcos from wiping the RAM rebels out.[1][2] This eventually snowballed into the People Power revolution which ended the Marcos dictatorship and forced him into exile,[2][3] replacing him with his electoral rival, Corazon Aquino.
Enrile, who was retained by Aquino as her Defense Minister, and RAM also harbored resentment over their sidelining by Aquino after the revolution.[6] Likewise, Enrile's relations with Aquino further soured due to his public criticism of Aquino over her supposed betrayal of the People Power uprising and her approach to the communist insurgency,[7] his inclusion in a Marcos loyalist cabinet presented during the Manila Hotel Siege in July 1986, which he rejected, and the way that he had preempted Aquino in giving a blanket amnesty to the soldiers involved in what had been the first coup attempt against her government. The lenient way in which the Aquino government resolved the coup, along with the failure to investigate RAM and Enrile for its liaisons with the Marcos loyalist officers who staged the coup, appeared to convince RAM and Enrile that they could launch another move against Aquino with impunity.[8]
During that time, the Aquino government also grappled with other issues such as the creation of a new constitution and the renegotiation of billions of dollars of debt accumulated by the Marcos regime.[4]
Chronology
Preparations
The exact time that preparations for the coup began was estimated to be in September 1986, when RAM officers began unveiling a hybrid warfare plan that would involve psychological warfare and the assassination of prominent left-wing figures and officials in Aquino's cabinet. Their first step was to increase RAM's visibility in public, and claim greater emphasis of their role in the People Power Revolution at the expense of Aquino and other civilian actors. On October 21, Enrile met with Aquino and demanded a greater share of political power and a revamp of her cabinet, which she refused.[8]
Weeks before the coup, RAM began trying to woo support for a coup from senior commanders of the Philippine Army, the Philippine Air Force, and the Philippine Marines, hoping to capitalize on their shared resentment of leftwing presence in the government and investigations into human rights violations by the military.[8]
Destabilization and assassination efforts
In the following weeks leading to the coup, a series of attacks occurred in Manila that were later linked to RAM, including three bombings, a grenade attack on Aquino's former campaign headquarters, and a gun attack on a Wendy’s restaurant, which drew parallels with similar attacks launched during the lead up to the declaration of martial law by President Marcos in 1972 that were blamed on the communists.[8][9]
Several assassinations also occurred during this time. On November 13 the leader of the militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Rolando Olalia and his driver Leonor Alay-ay were abducted and later found brutally killed in Antipolo, Rizal. In 2017, senior RAM leader Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Kapunan subsequently admitted ordering surveillance on Olalia before his murder, as well as on Labor Minister Sanchez.[10][11] Olalia himself had threatened to wage another People Power Revolution should another coup be launched against Aquino.[8] On November 22, Ulbert Ulama Tugung, a Filipino Muslim community leader and supporter of Aquino, was shot dead by unknown gunmen. It was believed that the killings were designed to provoke a violent reaction from both the left and from the Muslim community that would overwhelm the government and enable the military to step in.[6][12]
On November 15, Japanese businessman Nobuyuki Wakaoji, the head of the Manila branch of Mitsui, was abducted in Laguna and held until April 1987 when he was released in exchange for a $10 million ransom. The National Bureau of Investigation suspected the kidnapping was orchestrated by RAM to embarrass Aquino during her state visit to Japan, which led Japanese investors to avoid the Philippines.[8] However, in 2003, the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, adding that it had assassinated the guerrilla commander responsible for the deed, which was done without approval from the party leadership.[13]
Plaza Miranda letters
RAM also began reviving rumors of involvement of President Aquino's assassinated husband, Senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., in the Plaza Miranda bombing in 1971, in conjunction with the communists as part of an attempt to ruin her credibility. Kapunan held a press conference claiming that as an intelligence officer, he interviewed Ninoy's driver who said that he delayed his arrival at the senatorial rally that was bombed, insinuating his responsibility for the blast. RAM's chief propagandist, Captain Rex Robles, leaked to the media a letter from army officer turned NPA defector Lieutenant Victor Corpus, in which he claimed to have witnessed the CPP leadership planning the attack, which prompted him to surrender to the government.[8]
On November 4, Enrile convened fellow co-conspirators at the home of Marine commander General Brigido Paredes, and unveiled their final plans for the coup, involving a commando raid on the presidential residence at Malacañang to capture Aquino and force her to "yield the powers of the presidency". They set the coup to be undertaken on November 11, on the eve of Aquino's state visit to Japan.[14] There was no clear reason why the plot was codenamed "God Save the Queen", but investigators believed that it was in reference to the plan being a modified version of the failed coup attempt by RAM against Marcos in February, which was codenamed "God Save the King",[4] and signified RAM's plan to maintain Aquino in office as a figurehead.[15]
First discovery
On November 3, Robles approached Corpus again and tried to recruit him to the coup. Instead, Corpus reported the plot to Philippine Constabulary chief Renato de Villa, who then forwarded it to AFP Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos.[8]
On November 7, the government decided to deliberately leak the plot to the press, which was then released as an exclusive by the Philippine Daily Inquirer on November 9.[14] Following the leak, the AFP went on maximum alert, while leftwing groups threatened to go to the streets to prevent a military takeover. Later that day, Aquino delivered her departure speech before going to Japan on her state visit, denouncing any "attempt" from any quarter to interfere with or dictate" to her government. The remarks were seen as a provocation on Enrile,[15] who then raised the Philippine war flag over his office at the Ministry of National Defense in Camp Aguinaldo, which was guarded by 800 soldiers and ten armored vehicles commanded by RAM leader Colonel Gringo Honasan. This resulted in a standoff that lasted until November 11, when Enrile backed down from his plans following negotiations with Ramos and other officers loyal to Aquino, during which they reaffirmed their allegiance to the civilian government.[8]
Second discovery
On November 22, military intelligence found that Enrile and RAM leaders met with prominent Marcos loyalists at the home of Enrile's friend and former assemblyman Antonio Carag in Mandaluyong to finalize plans for a joint coup set on November 23, during which soldiers would converge on Manila while the dissolved Marcos-era legislature, the Regular Batasang Pambansa would reconvene and annul Aquino's election victory against Marcos in the snap election on February 7, 1986, effectively removing her from office and replacing her with former speaker Nicanor Yñiguez. One of the RAM leaders, Captain Felix Turingan, phoned Ramos and asked for his support, which he refused.[16]
Following the killing of Tugung on the same day, which was meant by RAM to be the signal to start their coup, the military was placed on red alert as Ramos received reports of rebel forces arriving from Bicol and Cagayan Valley, while Honasan assembled a force composed of 200 men, ten Scorpion tanks and several V-150 armored vehicles around the defense ministry. Ramos responded by blockading Honasan's forces and gaining the support of uncommitted officers through frantic telephone calls.[8] Additional reinforcements were sent to government offices and vital infrastructure and utilities, while AFP headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo, Constabulary headquarters at Camp Crame, and army headquarters at Fort Bonifacio, all commanded by Aquino loyalists, were fortified against an attack. Three battalions were also deployed to the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City to forestall any gatherings. Eventually, RAM backed down after Ramos delivered a stern warning that he would order his troops to open fire if they made any further advances. The rebels started withdrawing to barracks at 3 pm on November 23.[4]
Incidents in the provinces
While the second coup unfolded, several military units in the provinces announced their support for RAM, but did not push further. In Cebu City, 3,000 soldiers called on Aquino to revamp her cabinet and hold new presidential elections. Some of them flew over the city in helicopters and dropped leaflets bearing their demands. Another demonstration was held by the army garrison in Butuan.[7]
End of the coup
The following day, Aquino announced she had sacked Enrile as Defense Minister, replacing him with Rafael Ileto[17]: 264 and that she would revamp her Cabinet, "to give the government a chance to start all over again."[18] However, RAM responded by barricading themselves at the defense ministry again, prompting Ileto to personally intervene and convince RAM to stand down. Over the following months, Ileto, who called his office a "snake pit" filled with Enrile's personnel, gradually purged the ministry of the latter's staff.[8]
Aftermath
Political repercussions
Enrile was subsequently elected to the Philippine Senate in 1987 as one of only two minority members of the chamber, and became a staunch critic of the Aquino administration.[19] Of the cabinet officials targeted by RAM, both Sanchez and Arroyo were later removed from office in what was seen as a move to placate the military, while Pimentel and Maceda resigned to successfully run for the Senate along with Sanchez, who lost.[6]
Despite the involvement of politicians associated with Marcos in the coup, his political party, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan denied involvement in the plot, with Secretary General Salvador Britanico calling the accusations part of a disinformation campaign in the factional struggles within the military.[4]
For their role in the coup, RAM’s leaders were reassigned to positions outside Manila, which enabled them to recruit followers for their next coup attempt in August 1987. Kapunan was sent to the Philippine Military Academy in Baguio as an instructor, where he began to indoctrinate cadets in support of RAM's goals,[8] while Honasan was transferred to Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, 200 kilometers north of Manila.[20] where he trained and indoctrinated the Philippine Army's 1st Scout Ranger Regiment and the Philippine Army Special Forces into joining his rebellion against Aquino.[21] Reflecting on the incident, a military officer remarked that "the heroes of February (RAM)" had become the "villains of November".[4]
International reaction
The United States expressed that it was pleased over the failure of the coup and reiterated its support for Aquino's government.[7] Congressman Stephen Solarz, who had previously suggested that Enrile be removed from Aquino's cabinet before the coup, said that she had “won the hearts and minds of the American people.” Sam Nunn, chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, commented that the AFP had to be reorganized and gain the people's confidence.[4]
Australia's Foreign Minister Bill Hayden said his government backed Aquino. An Indonesian newspaper editorial said that Aquino's sacking of Enrile would strengthen her government, while another editorial published in Thailand said the dismissal "had to happen.”[4]
Prosecution of the Olalia-Alay-ay murders
After investigators found witnesses and evidence to link RAM to the Olalia-Alay-ay murders, a former RAM member identified Kapunan as the mastermind of the killings in 1998. However, the case was stalled due to a prior amnesty granted to RAM members and other coup participants by Ramos, who by then had succeeded Aquino as President. Ultimately, Kapunan was acquitted in 2016 due to insufficient evidence, while three lower-ranking RAM officers were convicted in 2021 for the actual abduction and killing of Olalia and Alay-ay.[10] Honasan, as RAM's leader, denied any involvement in the killings despite testimony by participants-turned witnesses.[22]
^ abPaul Sagmayao, Mercado; Tatad, Francisco S. (1986), People Power: The Philippine Revolution of 1986: An Eyewitness History, Manila, Philippines: The James B. Reuter, S.J., Foundation, OCLC16874890
^Nemenzo, Francisco (1988). "From Autocracy to Elite Democracy". Dictatorship and revolution: roots of people's power. Metro Manila: Conspectus. ISBN9789919108014. OCLC19609244.
The Davide Fact-Finding Commission (1990). The Final Report of the Fact-Finding Commission (pursuant to R.A. No. 6832). Makati: Bookmark Inc. p. 118. ISBN971-569-003-3.
