REBEL SENATOR LEADS COUP ATTEMPT BY MILITARY MUTINY AGAINST ARROYO IN MANILA
GOV'T FORCES TAKE BACK 5-STAR HOTEL WHERE CONSPIRATORS ANNOUNCED PLANS TO REPLACE ARROYO GOV'T BY FORCE
29 November 2007

After a tense 7 hours, Philippines government forces, having surrounded the Peninsula Hotel in Makati, Manila's financial district, fired tear gas into the luxury hotel and were able to detain all the participants in the attempted coup d'état. Rebel senator Antonio Trillanes, Brigadier General Danilo Lim, and former vice president Teofisto Guingona are alleged to be the master-minds behind the conspiracy to overthrow Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government.

Reports suggest that many of the military personnel involve are among those already standing trial in connection with the 2003 attempted coup against Arroyo, carried out in strikingly similar fashion, very near to the Peninsula Hotel, and which also ended without bloodshed.

The Philippines is currently grappling with an Islamist insurgency in the far south of the country, and a Communist rebel group on the main island. Pres. Arroyo's government started out with a mandate to reform the political system and stop corruption at the roots, but the task has proved harder than the framing of an attractive policy, and the government has seen itself accused of corruption by opponents.

The coup attempt represents part of the difficult dichotomy in Philippine politics, where a strong respect for civic reconciliation at times feeds back into a cycle of attempts to overthrow that system. Arroyo's government has been adept at dealing with hostage-takings and situations such as this coup attempt, ending them quickly and with relatively little use of force.

The senator's reference to the "People Power" revolution that deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos is dubious in that, instead of demanding rule of law, democracy and respect for the Constitution, he has attacked them, and without broad popular support. [s]