Philippines, 1986 — military coup attempt

Event Summary

On 6 July 1986 the first of many coup attempts against Philippine President Corazon Aquino unfolded when around 490 armed soldiers and thousands of civilians loyal to the deposedi dictator Ferdinand Marcos seized the Manila Hotel. Aquino had come to power just months earlier in the February 1986 People Power Revolution that drove Marcos into exile in Hawaii, but her fragile new government faced deep hostility from Marcos loyalists in the military and political class. At the hotel, Marcos's former vice presidential running mate Arturo Tolentino proclaimed that Marcos had authorized him to take over the government, swore himself in as acting president, and named a cabinet.

Marcos was reportedly in telephone contact with the rebels. But the incident fizzled: the public largely ignored the loyalists' call to rise, no significant military units defected, and after occupying the hotel for around thirty seven hours Tolentino and his followers agreed to leave peacefully. The participants were given a token penalty of push ups, and Aquino survived the first of the many challenges that would mark her presidency.